CREAM CHEESE, 129 



coloured ; but those of Gloucestershire and North Wilt- 

 shire are deeply coloured. Very little colour is used in 

 foreign cheese. 



Cream cheeses are soft and rich cheeses, not intended 

 to be kept long. The curd in such cheeses is not 

 broken up, but lifted whole into a sieve, where it drains 

 gradually, and is moderately pressed till it becomes 

 firm. These cheeses are sold as soon as made, and un- 

 less immediately consumed they become soft and putrid. 

 Stilton cheeses are intermediate between these soft 

 cheeses and those designed for long keeping. So also 

 are Gruyei'e cheeses, which are made from new milk. 

 There is a celebrated cheese, among the harder kinds, 

 called Parmesan cheese. This is made from the milk 

 of stall-fed cows, in the country between Cremona 

 and Lodi, which is the richest part of the Milanese. 

 Skimmed milk is used for this cheese, and is heated in a 

 large cauldron, which turns on a crane, over a slow wood 

 fire, let into the ground. When the milk is of a pro- 

 per warmth to receive the rennet, the cauldron is turned 

 off the fire for a time, until the curd has formed, when 

 the whole is stirred up, part of the whey removed, and 

 the cauldron set over the fire again, until a good heat is 

 obtained, though below boiling. A certain quantity of 

 saffron is put in to give colour and flavour to the cheese. 

 When the curd has come to the proper consistency, 

 which is in about an hour and a half, the cauldron is 

 taken off the fire, the curd collected in a coarse cloth, 

 put into a hoop, and pressed for about an hour, when 

 the cloth is taken off, and the cheese placed on a shelf 

 in the same hoop. At the end of two or three days, it 

 is sprinkled all over with salt, and this is repeated every 

 second day, for about forty or forty-five days, when no 

 further salting is required. 



In some parts of Saxony, cheese of tolerable quality is 

 formed by an admixture of potatoes with the milk. The 

 large white kinds of potatoes are preferred for this pur- 

 pose, and when boiled and peeled are allowed to cool, 

 K 



