142 



CHEESE 



It is subsequently cut, piled, 

 a cloth for perhs 



to preserve heat. 



and left covered with a cloth for perhaps half an 

 hour. The curd then smells and tastes slightly 

 It is either milled or put through Harris's 



acid. 



stamp lever breaker, which cuts it into pieces like 

 fingers. It is subsequently weighed, and should 

 amount to fully 1 Ib. to the gallon of milk, and is 

 again exposed to the air to get quit of taints, and 

 to toughen before salting, which should be done 

 when a velvety feeling is noticeable. The salt is 

 added dry at three separate times, and well mixed. 

 The curd is then left to cool down to about 70 F. 

 before being put into the vat. Pressure for about 

 two and a half days is followed by ripening or 

 seasoning. The whole operation of making up the 

 curd may be over in five hours, or may take six or 

 seven hours, according to circumstances. A good 

 Cheddar cheese contains when ripe about 28 per 

 cent, of casein, and nearly 34 per cent, both of 

 butter and of moisture. 



Cheshire Cheeses are manufactured in Cheshire, 

 Staffordshire, and Shropshire. In their deep shape 

 and also in many details of their working they 

 resemble Cheddars. Setting is done in a square 

 covered vat, and after making up they are often put 

 into an oven to cook for a night before going to 

 press. In the latter they remain for nearly a week. 

 Derbyshire Cheeses are steeped and worked in a 

 manner which closely corresponds to the Cheshire 

 system. The salt, however, is applied externally. 

 Gloucester Cheeses are made by a sweet process 

 very much the same as the Derbyshire process. 

 Double and Single Gloucester 's are identical, with 

 the exception of the thickness and the consequent 

 rate at which they ripen. After a time they are 

 scraped clean and painted with Spanish brown. 

 Leicester Cheeses are small and flat, and made by 

 a sweet process. They are at first lightly salted, 

 but salt continues to be added externally. They 

 take a long time to mature. 



Stilton Cheeses are made mostly in Leicester. 

 They used to be double cream cheeses, but are now 

 successfully made of the milk as it comes from the 

 cow. The curd is not subjected to pressure like 

 that used in making the previously mentioned 

 forms. While on the shelves ripening it is sup- 

 ported by a bandage, and during that time the 

 characteristic blue mould should form throughout 

 its substance. 



Gruyere Cheese, made in the canton of Fribourg, 

 Switzerland, is a whole-milk cheese, as are also the 

 Dutch cheeses of Gouda and Edam. The fancy 

 cheeses of the Continent, as Camembert, Brie, Roque- 

 fort, Limburg, Gorgonzola, &c. , command a high 

 retail price in Britain because of their perishable 

 nature and because their consumption is restricted 

 to a limited and wealthy class. Imitations have 

 been made, but of a spurious and imperfect kind, 

 owing to the impossibility of securing the secrets 

 of their manufacture. The broad facts are known, 

 but not the details. For example, it is quite 

 understood that some soft cheeses are made by 

 mixing old and new curd together. The quality of 

 the natural pastures also affects some, notably the 

 Parmesan cheeses from northern Italy. See the 

 works on dairying named at BUTTER ; and Harris's 

 Cheese and Butter Maker's Handbook (1885). 



AMERICAN CHEESE ANDCHEESE-MAKING. Since 

 the introduction of the factory system the art of 

 cheese-making in America has 

 undergone a radical change. 

 Formerly American cheese was 

 pungent in flavour and decomposed rapidly, and 

 consequently it was not popular in foreign markets. 

 With the perfecting of the system, however, the 

 product has been brought to a high condition of excel- 

 lence, and American cheese now competes favour- 

 ably, in even the English market, with the home- 



made Cheddar, Cheshire, and other popular kinds. 

 The system practised in American factories i 

 an improved Cheddar process, and prominent 

 English experts have at times referred to the 

 American system as being worthy of imitation in 

 English dairies. Under the prevailing system the 

 manufacture of cheese in America (the United 

 States and Canada) increased more than 100 per 

 cent, in 20 years, as the following figures show : 



Copyright 1889, 1897, and 

 1800 in the U.S. by J. B. 

 Lippincott Company. 



From 1880 onwards the manufacture and export 

 of cheese from the United States decreased : thus 

 in 1893 the export was $7,624,648, and in 1897 it 

 was only $4,636,063. The Canadian product and 

 export, on the other hand, increased from $13,407,- 

 470 in 1893 to $14,676,239 in 1897. In 1893, Britain 

 imported in all 232,675,744 Ib., worth 5,160,918. 

 The decrease in exports from the United States was 

 due to the too prevalent adulteration of cheese with 

 oleo-margarine and lard oils, through which the 

 quality fell off, and an unfavourable reputation was 

 acquired, while Canadian cheese has been kept pure. 

 After 1880, Canadian cheese of the best autumn 

 makes sold in England for more than the average 

 English Cheddar. 



The American system of cheese-making has been 

 reduced by improved mechanism and association in 

 the form of the factory method to the most eco- 

 nomical point. This method of manufacture was a 

 growth by necessity rather than a discovery. A 

 large dairy was divided by the death of the owner, 

 who left three sons. The sons united and manu- 

 factured their milk at the old dairy, and in time 

 neighbours joined, and the first factory was estab- 

 lished in 1851 under the management of the oldest 

 of the three brothers. In course of time the busi- 

 ness increased and became reduced to a most 

 economical basis, while by the employment of 

 skilful operatives the quality of the product was 

 gradually raised. The factories were gradually 

 enlarged until the milk of 1200 cows could be 

 worked up in the largest, and an average factory 

 received the milk of about 400 cows. One Cana- 

 dian factory makes 216,000 Ib. of cheese yearly 

 from the milk of 1300 cows. 



The curing occupies about three months, the 

 temperature of the curing-room being kept at 65 F. 

 Gang presses are used, in which a large number of 

 cheeses laid on their sides are pressed at once by 

 turning one screw. A common test by which the 

 ripeness of the curd for pressure is determined is 

 by touching it with a hot iron, and when long 

 strings are drawn from the curd by the iron, the 

 curd is ripe. 



Milk is brought to the factory twice daily, and 

 is weighed and run into the vat from the delivery 

 window. The milk is either bought by the factory, 

 or is worked up at a stated charge, or the factory 

 is managed on the co-operative plan in which the 

 net proceeds are divided periodically. Under this 

 factory system the quality of the cheese is uniform 

 and as high as is secured in any well-managed 

 private dairy. About one-fifth of the cheese pro- 



