CHEESE. 319 



V. CHEESE. 



HOW AMERICAN CHEESE IS MADE. 



By the late Prof. John W. Decker, of Ohio Dairy School, Author of 

 "Cheese Making: Cheddar, Swiss, Brick, etc." 



A. Factory or Cheddar Cheese. 



As soon as the milk is received at the factory it is heated 

 to 86"" F. and a rennet test made.* 



Tf the milk is not ripe enough it is held till the proper 

 acidity is reached. If the milk is very sweet a starter of 

 sour milk is added to hasten it. The milk should be set at 

 such a ripeness that there will be one eighth of an inch 

 of acid (fine strings) on the hot-iron in two hours and a half 

 from the time rennet is added. 



If the cheese is to be colored the color is added just be- 

 fore setting the milk. When it is thoroughly stirred in, 

 the rennet may be added, The amount of rennet to be used 

 depends on the kind of cheese desired. If a soft fast-cur- 

 ing cheese is wanted, enough rennet is used to coagulate 

 the milk in fifteen to twenty minutes ; if a slow-curing 

 cheese, enough to coagulate in thirty to forty-five minutes. 

 It is stirred in thoroughly in four or five minutes and then 

 the dipper is run lightly over the top, to keep the cream 

 down till the milk begins to thicken, when a cloth cover is 

 spread over the vat and the coagulation allowed to continue 

 till the curd will break clean over the fingers. 



* The Monrad rennet test is recomtnended. It consists of a i6o cc. tin 

 cylinder for measuring the miik, a 5 cc. pipette, a 50 cc. graduated flask, 

 and a half-pint tin basin. The rennet is measured with the 5 cc. pipette 

 and delivered into the 50 cc. flask, the rennet adhering to the pipette being 

 rinsed into the flask with a little water. The flask is then filled with water 

 to the 50 cc. mark, and the solution mixed by shaking. The milk, the 

 temperature of which should be 86° F., is measured in the tin cylinder, 

 emptied into the half-pint basin, and 5 cc. of the dilute extract is measured 

 into the t6occ, of milk, and the number of seconds required to curdle it 

 tioted. If a few specks of charcoal are scattered on the milk and the milk 

 started into motion around the dish with a thermometer, the instant of 

 curdling can be noted by the stopping of the specks. They will stop so 

 suddenly as to seem to start back in the opposite direction. The 'SlarschM 

 rennet test is a very convenient device for ascortaininy the exact moment 

 of coagulation, and is used e.xtensively in cheese factories. 



