CHE 



CHE 



81 



making is recommended in the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Reposi- 

 tory, vol. III. p. 52. The milk is 

 universally set for cheese as soon 

 as it comes from the cow. 



The management of the curd 

 depends on the kind of cheese : 

 thin cheese requires the least la- 

 bour and attention. 



Breaking the curd is done with 

 the hand and dish. The finer the 

 curd is broken the better, particu- 

 larly in thick cheeses. The best 

 colour of this kind of cheese is that 

 of bees-wax, which is produced by 

 annotto, rubbed into the milk after 

 it is warmed. The dairy woman 

 is to judge of the quantity by the 

 colour of the milk, as it diflfers 

 much in strength. The rennet is 

 prepared, by taking some whey 

 and salting it till it will bear an 

 egg ; it is then suffered to stand 

 over night, and in the morning it is 

 skimmed and racked off clear ; to 

 this is added an equal quantity of 

 water brine, strong as the whey, 

 and to this mixture, some sweet 

 briar, thyme, or some other sweet 

 herbs, also a little black pepper 

 and salt petre ; the herbs are kept 

 in the brine three or four days, af- 

 ter which it is decanted clear from 

 them. Into six quarts of this 

 liquor four large calves' bags, or 

 more properly called calves' stom- 

 achs, are put. No part of the pre- 

 paration is heated, and frequently 

 the calves' bags are only steeped 

 in cold salt and water. Turning 

 the milk differs in different dairies, 

 no two dairy women conduct ex- 

 actly alike. 



Setting the milk too hot inclines 

 the cheese to heave, and cooling 

 11 



it with cold water produces a simi- 

 lar effect. The degree of heat is 

 varied according to the weather. 

 The curd, when formed is broken 

 with what is called a triple cheese 

 knife. The use of this is to keep 

 the fat in the cheese ; it is drawn 

 the depth of the curd two or three 

 times across the tub, to give the 

 whey an opportunity of running off 

 clear ; after a few minutes the 

 knife is more freely used, and the 

 curd is cut into small pieces like 

 chequers, and is broken fine in the 

 whey with the hand and a wooden 

 dish. The curd being allowed 

 about half an hour to settle, the 

 whey is laded off with the dish, af- 

 ter it is pretty well separated from 

 the curd. 



It is almost an invariable prac- 

 tice to scald the curd. The mass 

 is first broken very fine, and then 

 the scalding whey is added to it, 

 and stirred a few minutes ; some 

 make use of hot water in prefer- 

 ence to whey, and it is in both ca- 

 ses treated according to the nature 

 of the curd ; if it is soft the whey 

 or water is used nearly boiling ; but 

 if hard, it is used only a little hot- 

 ter than the hand. After the curd 

 is thoroughly mixed with the hot 

 stuff, it is suffered to stand a few- 

 minutes to settle, and is then sepa- 

 rated as at the first operation. Af- 

 ter the scalding liquor is separated, 

 a vat, or what is often called a 

 cheese hoop, is laid across the 

 cheese ladder over the tub,and the 

 curd is crunibled into it with the 

 hands and pressed into the vat, to 

 squeeze out the whey. The vat 

 being filb/d asfiillai'd firml> ;^^ilie 

 hand aloue can fill it, and rounded 



