568 METHODS OF MAKING THE RENNET. 



remove by a gentle washing the curd and slimy matters which are pre- 

 sent in the stomach, as they are supposed to impart a strong taste to the 

 cheese. In Cheshire the curd is frequently salted separately for imme- 

 diate use. In Ayrshire and Limburg, on the other hand, the curd is 

 always left in the stomach and salted along with it. Some even give 

 the calf a copious draught of milk shortly before it is killed, in order that 

 the stomach may contain a larger quantity of the vfHuable curd. 



2°. Salting the stomach. — In the mode of salting the stomach similar 

 differences prevail. Some merely put a few handfuls of salt into and 

 around it, then roll it together, and hang it near the chimney to dry. 

 Others salt it in a pickle for a few days, and then hang it up to dry 

 (Gloucester), while others again (Cheshire) pack several of them in 

 layers with much salt both within and without, and preserve them in a 

 cool place till the cheese-making season of the following year. They 

 are then taken out, drained from the brine, spread upon a table, sprinkled 

 with salt which is rolled in with a wooden roller, and then hung up to 

 dry. In some foreign countries, again, the recent stomach is minced very 

 fine, mixed with some spoonfuls of salt and bread-crumb into a paste, 

 put into a bladder, and then dried. In Lombardy the stomach, after 

 being salted and dried, is minced and mixed up with salt, pepper, and a 

 little whey or water into a paste, which is preserved for use. [Cattaneo, 

 II latte e i suoi prodotti, p. 204.] 



In whatever way the stomach or intestine of the calf is prepared and 

 preserved, the almost universal opinion seems to be, that it should be 

 kept for 10 or 12 months before it is capable of yielding the best and 

 strongest rennet. If newer than 12 months, the rennet is thought in 

 Gloucestershire " to make the cheeses heave or swell, and become full 

 of eyes or holes." [British Husbandry, ii., p. 420.] 



3°. Making the rennet. — ^^In making the rennet different customs also 

 prevail. In some districts, as in Cheshire, a bit of the dried stomach is 

 put into half a pint of lukewaim water with as much salt as will lie 

 upon a shilling, is allowed to stand over night, and in the morning the 

 infusion is poured into [he milk. For a cheese of 601bs. weight, a piece 

 of the size of half-a-crown will often be sufficient, though of some skins 

 as much as 10 square inches are required to produce the same effect [Dr. 

 Holland.] 



It is perhaps more common, however, to take the entire stomach 

 {dried-maws, veils, reeds, or yirning* they are often called), and to pour 

 upon them from one to three quarts of water for each stomach, and to 

 allow them to infuse for several days. If only one has been infused, and 

 the rennet is intended for immediate use, the infusion requires only to be 

 skimmed and strained. But if several maw-skins be infused — or, as is 

 the custom in Cheshire, as many as have been provided for the whole 

 season — about two quarts of water are taken for each, and,- after stand- 

 ing not more than two days, the infusion is poured off, and is completely 

 saturated with salt. During the summer it is constantly skimmed, and 

 fresh salt added from time to time. Or a strong brine may at once 



* In Northumberland fhedrted stomach is sometimes called the kealap, which ie evidently 

 the German kdse-lab, cheese-rennet. Loppert and lajrpert^ applied in Northumberland and 

 the West of Scotland respectively to sour, curdled milk, is derived from the same German 

 lab, rennet, or laber, to coagulate. 



