Ch. XXXVII.] ON CHEESE. 435 



milked *. The cracks which frequently take place in cheese, are also by 

 many persons supposed to proceed from lime having been used as a manure 

 upon land laid down to pasture, and afterwards fed by cows ; but this is 

 probably a mistake, for it rarely occurs in the Dunloj) sort, tliough perhaps 

 as much lime has been applied to the soil of x\yrshire during the last fifty 

 years as to any other part of the United Kingdom, and Mr. Alton attributes 

 it rather to the cheese being exposed, before it is dry, to too much draught 

 of air. 



The mode of salting is also very differently conducted in several dairies : 

 in those of Gloucestershire and Cheshire the practice being to cure the 

 cheese after it has been removed from the vat ; while in those of Scotland, 

 and some other places, the salt is minutely mixed into the curd previous 

 to its being put into the vat. Both practices, nevertheless, appear to be 

 attended with equally good effects ; but the latter certainly occasions less 

 trouble, without any waste of salt. 



SKIM-MILK CHEESE,' 



made of milk from which the entire of the cream has been taken, is, of course, 

 more or less palatable in proportion to the time during which the milk is 

 allowed to stand ; for if that be so long as to deprive it entirely of the bulyra- 

 ceous, or oily matter, it becomes indigestible, and so hard, that in Suffolk, 

 where large quantities of it are made, it is said that instead of being cut 

 with a knife, it is usually chopped with a hatchet. 



The milk should, if possible, not be allowed to become sour; and the 

 moment it has been skimmed, it should be heated to not more than animal 

 heat, or about 90°; for, if put together too hot, its toughness will be in- 

 creased ; and as the curd coagulates more readily than that of full-milk 

 cheese, the same degree of heat is not necessary. This is the chief per- 

 ceptible difference in management; except that the curd is more difficult to 

 be broken, and that the cheese needs less of the press ; but in all other 

 respects the mode of making is the same. It will also be sooner ready for 

 use than whole-milk cheese of the same weight : those of 14 to 20 lbs. 

 weight of that description, requiring, in the opinion of experienced dairy- 

 men, from nine to twelve months in ripening, and those of a larger size still 

 longer. 



CREAM CHEESE, 



being in general only wanted for immediate use, is, in fact, little else 

 than thick, sweet cream, dried by being put into a small cheese-vat of 

 about an inch and a half in depth, perforated with small holes in the 

 bottom to allow any portion of the milk which may be mixed with it to 

 escape. It is also covered with rushes, or the long grass of the Indian 

 corn, so disposed as to admit of its being turned without being handled; 

 and it is never pressed except gently by the hand between cloths. It is 

 thus kept in warm situations to sweat and ripen ; for if once penetrated by 

 frost, or even chilled, much of its mellow richness is lost, and it becomes 

 comparatively insipid. The extreme of heat should, however, be equally 

 guarded against, or it becomes rank ; and, therefore, some judgment is 

 requisite in the time for using it in perfection f. 



* See 1he Favm Report of Kyle, in Ayrshire, in the Faitner's Series of the Library 

 of Useful Knowledge, No. 12, p. 46. 

 ■)• See Twamley on Dairying, p. C4. 



2 F -2 



