<s, 7 



until it is all a uniform colour, and the rennet then added, the milk 

 behii; kept well stirred all the time and for about live minutes 

 afterwards ; then allow it to settle. The surface ot the milk can 

 be kept in very gentle motion until it shows si^ns of thickening, 

 which ought to be in about twelve minutes. By so doin<r it pre- 

 vents the cream rising to the surface, much of which would be lost 

 in the whey. 



Up to the present we have supposed that the milk has been of 

 exactly the right degree of ripeness, but should the milk in the tea 

 cup not thicken within the time mentioned, 14 to 17 seconds, as 

 will often be the case in cold weather, often taking from 20 to 30 

 seconds to thicken, then the milk must be kept up in temperature 

 in the vat for some little time longer and heated up to 88 or 89 

 degrees Fah., and the tea cup test tried every now and again until 

 the correct result is obtainable. 



Unless a person has had a considerable amount of practice it is 

 often difficult to tell the exact time when the milk begins to thicken, 

 and the following simple test may be of use : When the milk is put 

 in the tea cup put a small piece of wood into it, half a wooden match 

 will answer very well, then add the rennet and stir rapidly and the 

 moment the milk begins to thicken the match will cease revolving 

 and come to a standstill. The milk when set is covered over with a 

 cheese cloth and allowed to remain until the proper time for cutting 

 the curd arrives, and the way to know when the curd is ready for 

 cutting is as follows : The milk took 12 minutes to thicken after 

 the rennet was added, or should have done so, if it was exactly ripe. 

 The exact time should always be noted by the watch and a note 

 taken of it. Twice and a half times the time taken to thicken will 

 give the time when the curd should be cut ; for instance, if the milk 

 thickened in 12 minutes the curd would be ready for cutting in 30 

 minutes, that is, twice 12= 24, and the half of 12 six, that is 30 

 minutes from the time of thickening, or 42 minutes from the time of 

 setting. 



The curd is now ready for cutting and for this purpose two 

 knives with many blades are used, one of which has the blades hori- 

 zontal, the other vertical. 



The knife with the horizontal blades is the one most used, and 

 great care should be exercised to see that the cutting is done sharp 

 and clean and that the curd is not bruised and broken during the 

 process. The horizontal knife cuts the curd into layers by using it 

 up and down the whole length of the vat, then the vertical knife is 

 used in the same direction and this cuts the curd into long strips, 

 but cutting them across the vat the curd is cut into cubes of the 

 required size. 



When the curd is thus cut heat is added so as to raise the 

 temperature up to 100 degrees Fah., the curd all the time being kept 

 gently in motion, care being taken not to break it or bruise it ; a 

 special kind of rake is used for the purpose ; about three-quarters of 



