1344 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



pressure for about twenty hours, when they are removed to the curing 

 room. Cheese should always be neat and stylish before placing in the 

 curing room. 



VIII. Curing the Cheese. 



Cheese are about half nuidc when leaving the press. The green 

 cheese are indigestible, and the process of curing is the gradual change 

 of insoluble, indigestible curd to a soluble, digestible cheese. Temper- 

 ature is the chief factor in controlling the rate at which the change takes 

 place, though rennet, salt, moisture and the character of the gieen 

 cheese are also important factors. Cheese cure best at a temperature 

 between 60° and 65°. During hot weather most curing rooms get too 

 warm. To control temperature in hot weather the room should be well 

 insulated by means of building paper and matched lumber. Double 

 doors and double windows are also necessary. To cool the room use a 

 sub-earth duct, ice, cold water in pipes, or compressed air. A sub-earth 

 duct may be built at a cost of about $75 by placing two rows of ten-inch 

 tile in a trench about 150 feet long and ten feet deep, and connecting 

 these with the curing room and an in-take pipe with a hood or cowl on 

 it to face the wind at all times. This in-take pipe should be about four- 

 teen to sixteen inches in diameter, and may be made of galvanized iron, 

 and should be thirty to fifty feet high. As the air passes through the 

 tile from the pipe it is cooled to about 60" and enters the curing room at 

 this temperature. The amount of air entering the room is regulated by 

 means of a slide door or a register placed in the floor or wall. 



For heating a curing room in spring or fall use a coal furnace or steam 

 from the boiler. 



Cheese should remain in the curing room from two to four weeks, if 

 the temperature does not go above 65° to 70° at any time. If the tem- 

 perature cannot be maintained below 70"", they are best placed in cold 

 storage at the end of one to two weeks. Cheddar cheese ai'O not fit for 

 consumption until they are one to two months old. A well-made ched- 

 dar is at its best when six to ten months old or even older than this, if 

 it does not cure too rapidly. 



IX. Farm Cheese. 

 Cheese for home use or for local trade may be made b}^ putting one 

 hundred to three hundred pounds of milk in a can, clean tub or other 

 vessel, adding rennet, cutting with a long knife, heating to 94^ to 96*^, 

 by taking out some of the whey and heating it on the stove, then pouring 

 it back on the curd. In about two hours take off the whey and allow 

 the curd to mat slightly. Then break or cut it, and when it is mellow 

 apply the salt and put in a small hoop. A hoop to hold the cur^ 



