THE DAIRY. 313 



from the whey, not to hasten the separation, lest a larger 

 portion of the fatty mailer should be squeezed out of the 

 curd and the cheese should thus be rendered poorer than 

 usual. But in some places the practice prevails of washing 

 the curd with hot water after the whey has been partially 

 separated from it. Thus at Gouda in Holland, after the 

 'greater part of the whey has been gradually removed, a 

 quantity of hot water is added, and allowed to remain upon 

 it for at least a quarter of an hour. The heat makes the 

 cheese more solid and causes it to keep better. In Italy, 

 again, the so-called pear-shaped caccio-cavallo cheeses and 

 the round palloni cheeses of Gravina, in the Neapolitan ter- 

 ritory, are made from curd, which, after being scalded with 

 boiling whey, is cut into slices, kneaded in boiling water, 

 worked with the hand till it is perfectly tenacious and elastic, 

 and then made into shapes. The water in which the curd is 

 washed, after standing 24 hours, throws up much oily mat- 

 ter, which is skimmed off and made into butter. 



Tlie separation of the whey is a part of the process upon 

 which the quality of the cheese in a considerable degree 

 depends. In Cheshire more time and attention is devoted to 

 the perfect extraction of the whey than in almost any other 

 district. Indeed, when it is considered that the whey con- 

 tains sug^r and lactic acid, which may undergo decomposi- 

 tion, and a quantity of rennet which may bring on fermenta- 

 tion, by both of which processes the flavor of the cheeses must 

 be considerably affected, it will appear of great importance 

 that the whey should be as completely removed from the 

 curd as it can possibly be. To aid in effecting this a curd- 

 mill, for chopping it fine after the whey is strained off, is in 

 use in many of the large English claries, and a very ingem- 

 ious, and I believe effectual, pneumatic cheese-press for suck- 

 ing out the whey was lately invented. But the way in which 

 the whey is separated is not a matter of indifference, and has 

 much influence upon the quality of the cheese. Thus in Nor- 

 folk, according to Marshall, when the curd is fairly set, the 

 dairy-maid bares her arm, plunges it into the curd, and with 

 the help of her wooden ladle breaks up minutely and inti- 

 mately mixes the curd with the whey. This she does for 10 

 or 15 minutes, after which the curd is allowed to subside, and 

 the whey is drawn off. By this agitation the whey must 

 carry off more of the butter and the cheese must be poorer. 

 In Cheshire and Ayrshire, again, the curd is cut with a knife, 

 but is gently used and slowly pressed till it is dry enough to 

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