MODE OF MAKING SPICE CHEESE. 331 



the market itself the cheese is laid on a four-cornered 

 bench, two feet high, and exposed to view in a glitter- 

 ing white linen cloth. But, in order to keep off all dust 

 and impurities, a sail-cloth is raised over the whole, 

 called the cheese-sail ; or it is covered with a sail-cloth 

 covering, or sometimes with clean straw. But in other 

 places it is customary to carry the cheese on wagons, 

 in a white linen cloth, and covered with a woollen cover, 

 ready packed for sale at the markets. 



Cheese-making in South Holland. — Spice cheese 

 from skim-milk, and sweet milk or Gouda cheese, are 

 the only kinds made to any extent in South Holland. 

 Spice cheese, which derived its name from the addition 

 of spices, is a firm, flat cheese, of about twenty pounds 

 weight, brought to market generally colored red. It is 

 three quarters of a foot thick, and one and a half feet in 

 diameter, and is made as follows : 



The skim-milk is poured from the milk-pans into large 

 tubs, and allowed to stand quiet till the cheesy matter 

 has settled to the bottom, which requires, perhaps, half 

 a day. Then the thin liquid on top is poured off very 

 carefully, without stirring up the rest, through a strainer, 

 into a large brass kettle, till it is full ; but the thicker 

 substance at the bottom is left, and not put into the 

 kettle. Under this kettle a fire is made, and the milk 

 heated to a certain degree, regulated by the judgment 

 of the dairymaid, sufficient to warm other cold milk, 

 but it must not boil. The fire is made in the kitchen, 

 or in the summer-house, or in some other room called 

 the cheese-house. When the milk in the kettle is 

 properly heated, it is poured into the tub of milk which 

 has been heated and allowed to get cold. This tub is 

 an upright vat, open at the top, of uniform diameter, 

 bound with wooden hoops, and generally left of the nat- 

 ural color of the wood ; scoured very bright, but some- 



