CHEESE-MAKING. IO1 



Derbyshire Cheese. 



As sound as the limestone soil from which it is produced, 

 the cheese of North Derbyshire will usually keep a long time, 

 and is slow to ripen. These two points are probably correlative, 

 for, as the Americans say, " Soon ripe, soon rotten." The 

 limestone cheese, like that of other sound soils, specially needs 

 the help of developed ferments, because it is not naturally so 

 liable to their intrusion as that of districts where the soil is 

 heavy and damp. In a previous chapter I have recited how, by 

 accident, the value of acid curd was discovered on a farm in 

 the Peak of Derbyshire (p. 74). 



The cheese as a rule is made once a day, but I have known 

 instances in which it was made both morning and evening, 

 from the freshest of milk. Such cheese is not salted in the 

 curd, and not salted on the outside until the following day ; it 

 has, consequently, time to become more or less acid before any 

 salt is applied. That is, it is allowed to become acid if it will, 

 but this is not equal to making it become acid by the mixing 

 of soured curd ; it is, in fact, inferior to the Cheshire system of 

 ovens. 



The cheese of the southern half of the county, made on land 

 that is not " sound " naturally dry and firm like that of the 

 north, is similarly made. Owing, however, to the greater 

 aptitude for natural fermentation, it is a mellower, though not 

 a richer cheese than that of the limestone. In both instances 

 the cheese is made from morning's and evening's milk combined, 

 which is coagulated at about 80 Fahr., and there is as a rule 

 no intentional acidity developed. 



A really good Derbyshire cheese is a pleasing article of food, 

 but it does not possess the "body" of the Cheshire and the Ched- 

 dar. There is no general and acknowledged method of making 

 it which does not admit of numerous local variations, and con- 

 sequently there is an absence of uniformity in the cheese of 

 the county. Derbyshire, however, is not at all singular in this 

 respect 



