CHEESE.] 



CATTLE, AND THEIR VARIETIES. 



[cheese. 



Roman cnurclies it was anciently allowed, 

 during Christmas time, to burn butter instead 

 of oil, on account of the great consumption of 

 it other ways. 



The principles of CJieeje-onaJcing, in many 

 respects, are those applied to the manufacture 

 of butter ; but the objects being, to a certain 

 extent, different, they are applied in a way 

 quite distinctive from the otlier. They all, 

 however, centre in the artificial development 

 of the caseiue of the milk, whether that be 

 new or skimmed. If left to itself, the lactic 

 acid (into which the sugar of milk is changed), 

 it has been observed, soon begins to form, 

 when the air and temperature have arrived at 

 that condition which is favourable to its de- 

 velopment. If to this mixture heat be applied, 

 to such an extent as to cause the caseous 

 matter to expand, genuine curd, fit for the 

 manufacture of cheese, would be the result ; 

 but the cheese would be unpalatable, hard, 

 and brittle, and the process too slow for the 

 purposes of commerce. Hence it is necessary 

 to introduce some kind of substance to facili- 

 tate the change. Lactic acid, added natu- 

 rally or artificially, combines with the soda 

 which holds the caseine in solution, and will 

 form lactate of soda. Here the acid will, with 

 the addition of a little heat, be developed ; and, 

 in order to accomplish this, various means 

 have been adopted. The usual addition which 

 is made for the effecting of this object, is that 

 of the stomach of the calf, or some ruminating 

 animal. In its natural state, the stomach of 

 the calf causes the milk to curdle, and 

 frequently this curdled milk forms the con- 

 tents of the calf's stomach. The animal 

 having first had a full meal of milk given to it, 

 is withdrawn, and made use of to turn the 

 3ilk into that state which is necessary for the 

 ultimate production of cheese. This, however, is 

 not necessary, for the stomach itself will effect 

 the desired change. Let this be well washed 

 and chopped up into pieces. Let these steep 

 in water, say for ten or twelve months, until it 

 is reduced either to a liquid or a powder, and 

 this will turn the milk. Even the skin itself 

 will cause tlie milk to coagulate. An idea 

 prevailed, and to some extent, no doubt, does 

 still prevail, that it is the gastric juice of the 

 stomach which produces the change in the 

 milk; but although that liquid would produce 



it, it has now been satisfactorily proved that 

 the change is effected by some acid in the 

 structure of the rennet itself, especially in 

 such a case as that to which we have referred 

 — namely, when the stomach is used after 

 having been steeped for twelve months in 

 water. The coagulating process, however, 

 may be effected by other means than by the 

 rennet. Vinegar, tartaric acid, alum, and even 

 milk itself, have all been used with success, 

 under circumstances favourable to the opera- 

 tion. In reference to new- milk-cheese, the 

 whole of the milk, immediately it has been 

 obtained from the cow, and passed through a 

 sieve, is subjected to the action of the rennet. 

 " In cases," says the author of The Cow, " when 

 a full meal of milk will not produce a cheese, 

 the !^milk of the evening is reserved till the 

 morning, both added together, and the rennet 

 poured upon the mass. As something like 

 95° is the heat at which coagulation and con- 

 traction of the curd is performed with the 

 greatest rapidity, the milk should be raised to 

 about that degree. If more heat than that is 

 given, the cheese will be tough and waxy ; if less, 

 there is some difficulty, owing to its softness, 

 in separating the cheesy from the watery 

 matter. In cold weather, a small quantity of 

 hot water has to be added to the new milk 

 with the rennet ; but if much water is added, 

 or the temperature interfered with more than 

 necessary, it injures the quality of the cheese." 

 When this part has been satisfactorily effected, 

 the cutting-up of the curd is the next step to 

 be taken in the manufacturing of cheese. 

 This is to separate it from the whey — an 

 operation in which a considerable degree of 

 care is required to be properly done. If 

 effected rapidly, or in a slovenly manner, the 

 mass will burst, and the butyraceous particles 

 be pressed out. This duty must not be post- 

 poned after the curd is formed, or the whey 

 will have more butter than ought properly to 

 belong to it. To drain away ijhe whey held 

 loose in attraction by the curd, this must be 

 cut in pieces, and laid in a strainer ; then, by 

 light and equable pressure, the remaining 

 portion of the whey must be taken off. In 

 effecting this, the pressure, at first, should be 

 slight, but afterwards it may be increased, as 

 the curd, with the evacuation of the whey, 

 gains greater power to retain the fatty matter. 



