Ch.XXXVII.] ox CHEESE. 429 



tivated districts." The sponginess and heavino^ of the cheese, which are 

 sometimes comphiined of, are faults wliich Mr. Holland attributes more to 

 inattention on the part of the workpeople than to want of skill — " their 

 certain preventatives being careful breaking, good thrusting, frequent 

 skewering, and powerful pressing;" but may not improbably arise, partly 

 from the use of cold and warm milk, which, if mixed together, will generate 

 air. Those of pungency and rankness, whicli are generally imputed to 

 impurity in the rennet, and by some to the want of salt, he, however, 

 thinks may be also more properly ascribed to the fermentation occasioned 

 by the imperfect discharge of the whey. 



GLOUCESTER CHEESE. 



The making of Double Gloucester, as we learn from Mr. Hayward, 

 wlio has long held a very extensive dairy at Frocester Court, in the richest 

 part of that county *, is as follows : — 



When the curd is sufficiently firm for breaking, it is gently and 

 slowly cut crosswise, to the bottom of the tub, at about an inch apart, 

 with a three-bladed knife of fourteen inches long. When it has stood 

 five or ten minutes, to allow it to sink a little, and the whey to come 

 out as clear as possible, some of the whey is dipped out of it with a 

 bowl, and the curd is again cut. This must also be at first done 

 slowly, and with strokes at a considerable distance from each other ; 

 for, if performed hurriedly, a great sediment of curd will be found in 

 the whey -leads : it should, however, be gradually quickened, and the 

 strokes taken nearer and nearer every time ; one hand with the 

 skimming-dish kee])ing the whole in motion, and turning up the 

 lumps suspended in the whey, while the other cuts them as small as 

 possible. This process may occupy a quarter of an hour. 



Tlie curd is now allowed to settle during a quarter of an hour, when 

 the whey is taken from it, and poured through a very fine hair sieve 

 placed over the whey-leads ; the dairy-maid then cutting the curd into 

 lumps, from which most of the remaining whey escapes. The curd is 

 then pressed down with the hand into vats, which are covered with 

 large cheese-cloths of fine canvass, and placed in the press for half an 

 hour, after which they are taken out and the curd put into a mill of 

 Mr. Hayvvard's construction, which tears it into small crumbs, and 

 saves the laborious part of squeezing and rubbing it with the hands, 

 while it also retains that portion of the oily matter which would be 

 otherwise lost to the cheese, and thus occasions a great improvement 

 in the making f. 



In this pulverized state it is customary with most dairy-maids to 

 scald the curd with hot whey ; but Mrs. Hayward considers the cheese 

 richer when not scalded, for this washes out a part of the fat : she 

 therefore merely presses it closely together with the hand, when filling 

 the vat. The whey should, however, be completely extracted, and the 

 curd filled into the vat as compactly as possible ; being rounded up 

 in the middle, but only just so much as that it can be pressed down to 

 a level. A cheese-cloth is then spread over the vat, and a little hot 

 water is thrown over the cloth, as tending to harden the outsides of 

 the cheese and prevent it from cracking. The curd is now turned 



* See the Farmer's Series, in the Library of Useful Knowledge, No. 21. 



f A plate, with a description of another curd-breaker, may be seen in the Quarterly 

 Journal of Agriculture, vol. iv. p. 384. It is, however, more applicable to skim-milk 

 than to whole-milk cheese. 



