Book VII. CATALOGUE OF CHEESES. 989 



curd, and suffer it to remain there for some time to drain, before they break the curd. 

 When the curd is sufficiently drained, it is put into two or three separate vessels, and is 

 broken with the hand as small as possible. During this part of the process, salt is scat- 

 tered over the curd, and intimately mixed with it ; the proportion, however, has not been 

 correctly ascertained, and is regulated by experience. 



6346. Management in the press. The breaking and salting completed, a cloth is 

 spread over the cheese vat, and the broken curd being packed into it, and covered up 

 with the cloth, a smooth round board is laid over the vat ; which is usually filled to the 

 height of one inch above the brim, to prevent the curd from shrinking below its sides, 

 when the whey is squeezed out. The whole is then put into a press for two hours, and 

 as it is of the utmost importance that every drop of whey should be expressed, skewers 

 are thrust into the cheese through the holes in the lower part of the vat to facilitate its 

 escape. The two hours expired, the cheese is taken out, and put into a vessel of warm 

 or hot whey for an hour or two, in order to harden its skin. On taking the cheese out 

 of the whey it is wiped dry, and when it has become cool, is wrapped in a clean dry 

 cloth, of a finer texture, and again submitted to the press for six or eight hours. The 

 cheese is now turned a second time, and is taken to the salting room, where it is rubbed 

 on each side with salt ; after which it is wrappe(^in another dry cloth, of a finer texture 

 than either of the preceding cloths, and is again pressed for twelve or fourteen hours ; if 

 any edges project these are pared off, and the cheese being laid upon a dry board, is 

 turned every day. In the salting room cheese should be kept warm until it has had a 

 sweat, or has become regularly dry and somewhat stiff; as it is warmth that ripens cheese, 

 improves its color, and causes it when cut to have a flakey appearance, which is the 

 surest sign of superior excellence. 



6347. Management in the cheese-room. After the processes of salting and drying are 

 completed, the cheeses are deposited in the cheese-room or loft, which should be airy and 

 dry ; but on no account should hard and soft cheeses be placed in the same room, for 

 the dampness or moisture arising from the latter, will cause the hard cheese to chill, 

 become thick-coated, and often spotted. Throughout the whole process of cheese- 

 making, the minutest attention will be requisite ; for if the whey be imperfectly ex- 

 pressed, or the rennet be impure, or the cheese be not sufficiently salted, it will become 

 rank and pungent. For this defect there is no remedy. The imperfect separation of 

 the whey will cause cheese to heave or swell, as well as to run out at the sides. In 

 order to prevent as well as to stop this heaving, the cheese must be laid in a moderately 

 cool and dry place, and be turned regularly every day. If the heaving be very consider- 

 able, the cheese must be pricked on both sides in several places, particularly where it is 

 most elevated, by thrusting a skewer into it : by this pricking, though the heaving will not 

 be altogether prevented, a passage will be given to the confined air, the heaving or 

 swelling will consequently be considerably reduced, and the cavities of the cheese will be 

 less offensive to the eye. Another remedy for heaving in cheese, consists in applying 

 a composition of nitre, and bole armeniac, which is vended in the shops under the name 

 of cheese-powder. It is prepared by mixing one pound of saltpetre with half an ounce 

 of bole armeniac thoroughly together, and reducing them to a very fine powder. About 

 a quarter of an ounce of this is to be rubbed on a cheese, when put a second and third 

 time into the press, half on each side of the cheese at two different meals, before the salt 

 is rubbed on, that the cheese may be penetrated with it. This preparation is very bind- 

 ing, and sometimes proves serviceable, but the nitre is apt to impart an acid taste ; and if 

 too much be applied, and the cheese should be exposed to too great heat, the quantity of 

 air already confined in it will be increased by fermentation, and the cheese will swell 

 much more than it would, if no powder had been rubbed in. The greatest care, there- 

 fore, will be necessary whenever this remedy is adopted. 



6348. Hard and spoiled cheese may be restored in the following manner : take four ounces of pearl-ash, 

 and pour sweet white wine over it, until the mixture ceases to effervesce. Filter the solution, dip into it 

 clean linen cloths, cover the clieese with them, and put the whole into a cool place, or dry cellar. Repeat 

 this process every day, at the same time turning the cheese, and, ifnecessary, continue it for several weeks. 

 Thus the hardest and most insipid cheese, it is affirmed, has frequently recovered its former flavor. 



Sect. VI. Catalogue of the different Sorts of Cheeses and other Preparations made 

 from Milk. 

 6349. Of cheeses, we shall first enumerate the British sorts, and next, those peculiar 

 to foreign countries : the description of each will be such as to enable any ingenious 

 dairyist to imitate them. 



6350. The brick-bat cheese is so named from the form of the mould ; it is formed of new milk and cream 

 in the proportion of two gallons of the former to a quart of the latter. It is principally made in Wiltshire in 

 the month of September, and should not be cut until it is twelve months old. 



6351. Chedder cheese^ so named from the vale of that name in Somersetshire, where it is exclusively 

 made. It is made in cheeses about thirty pounds each, which have a spongy appearance, and the eyes are 

 filled with a limpid and rich, but not rancid oil. 



6352. Cheshire cheese is in universal esteem ; it is made from the whole of the milk and cream, the 



