CHEESE. 



CHEESE. 



veral districts, cheese is frequently made 

 throughout the year ; but that made during the 

 winter months is considerably inferior in qua- 

 lity, and much longer in becoming lit for sale } 

 or for use, than that which is made within the 

 periods which have been just mentioned. In 

 Gloucestershire, the season of making thin 

 cheese is from April to November; but the 

 principal one for making thick is during the 

 months of May, June, and the beginning of 

 July. If made late in the summer, the cheese 

 does not acquire a sufficient degree of firmness 

 to be marketable in the ensuing spring. 



The milking in Cheshire, during the summer 

 season is at six o'clock, both morning and 

 evening ; and in winter, at daylight in the 

 morning, and immediately before dark in the 

 evening. But in other districts, as Wilts, Suf- 

 folk, &c., the people are frequently employed 

 in milking by four o'clock in the morning in 

 summer ; and the business in a dairy of forty 

 or fifty cows is nearly completed. before the 

 usual period at which it commences in Che- 

 shire. 



The colouring of cheese has been so long 

 common in the cheese districts, that it is pro- 

 bable that cheese of the best quality would be 

 in a great measure unsaleable if it did not pos- 

 sess the requisite colour. The degree of colour 

 is regulated chiefly by the name under which 

 it is intended the cheese should be sold, as Glou- 

 cester, Cheshire, &c. The objectof the introduc- 

 tion of this practice was no doubt to convey an 

 idea of richness which the cheese did not really 

 possess. This is the more evident, as it is 

 universally allowed that the poorest cheese 

 always requires the greatest quantity of dye to 

 bring it to the proper degree of colour. The 

 material which is employed for this purpose is 

 the Spanish annotta. (See ANNOTTA.) The 

 weight of a guinea and a half of it is consi- 

 dered in Cheshire sufficient for a cheese of 60 

 Ibs. ; and in Gloucestershire an ounce is the 

 common allowance to 1 cwt. 



In regard to the rennet, it may be observed, 

 that milk may be coagulated, or curdled, by 

 the application of any sort of acid ; but the 

 substance which is most commonly used is the 

 maws or stomachs of young calves prepared 

 for the purpose. These are most generally de- 

 nominated rennets; but they .are also often pro- 

 vincially called veils, and in Scotland yearnings. 

 See RENNET. 



In Cheshire, after the rennet is added to the 

 milk, and as soon as the curd is firm enough 

 to discharge its whey, the dairy woman plunges 

 her hands to the bottom of the vessel, and, 

 with a wooden dish, stirs the curd and whey ; 

 then lets go the dish, and by her hand agitates 

 the whole, carefully breaking every part of the 

 curd; and, at intervals, stirring it hard to the 

 bottom with the dish, so that no curd remains 

 unbroken larger than a hazel-nut. This is 

 done to prevent what is called slip-curd, or 

 lumps of curd, which, by retaining the whey, 

 do not press uniformly with the other curd, but 

 in a few days, if it happens to be situated 

 ^towards the rind of the cheese, turns livid and 

 jelly-like, and soon becomes faulty and rotten. 

 In a few minutes the curd subsides. The 

 dairy-woman then takes her dish, and lades off 

 314 



the whey into a milk-lead to stand for cream, 

 to be churned for whey-butter. This is a prac- 

 tice peculiar to the cheese counties. In Nor- 

 folk the whey, even from new milk, passes 

 from the cheese-vessels immediately to the hog- 

 tub. Having laded off all the whey she can, 

 she spreads a straining cloth, and strains the 

 whey through it, returning the curd retained in 

 the cloth into the cheese-tub. When she has got 

 all the whey .she can by pressing the curd with 

 her hand and the lading-dish, she takes a knife 

 and cuts it into square pieces of about two or 

 three inches. This lets out more of the whey, 

 and makes the curd more handy to be taken 

 up in order to be broken into the vats. 



Having made choice of a vat or vats pro- 

 portioned to the quantity of curd, so that the 

 cheese when fully pressed shall exactly fill the 

 vat, she spreads a cheese-cloth loosely over 

 the mouth of the vat, into which she rebreaks 

 the curd, carefully squeezing every part of it 

 in her hands ; and having filled the vat heaped 

 up, and rounded above its top, she folds over 

 it the cloth and places it in the press, on the 

 construction and power of which much de- 

 pends. 



When the vat is properly placed in the press, 

 the ordinary degree of pressure is applied, 

 which is more or less, according to the sizes 

 of the cheeses usually made. At all large 

 dairies, there are two or three presses, all va- 

 rying in respect to weight or pressure. There 

 are various kinds of cheese-presses ; one 

 made entirely of iron by the Shotts Foundry 

 Company is described in the Trans. High. Soc. 

 vol. iv. p. 52. As soon as the vat is placed in 

 the press, and the weight applied, skewers are 

 thrust in through the holes in the side of the 

 vat; this is done repeatedly during the first 

 day when the vat is in the press. From the 

 time the vat is first placed in the press till it is 

 again taken out does not, in ordinary cases, 

 exceed two or three hours. When taken out, 

 the cheese is put into a vessel with hot whey, 

 with a view of hardening its coat or skin, 

 where it stands for an hour or two ; it is then 

 removed, wiped dry, and after having remain- 

 ed some time to cool, is covered with a clean 

 cloth ; and the vat being wiped dry, and the 

 cheese replaced, it is again put into the press. 

 In the evening, supposing the cheese to have 

 been made in the morning, which is the usual 

 time, it is again taken out of the vat; and an- 

 other dry cloth being applied, it is turned and 

 replaced ; what was formerly the upper becom- 

 ing now the under side. In this manner it is 

 taken out, wrapped in clean cloths, and turned 

 in the vat twice a day for two days, when it is 

 finally removed. 



The salting is the next operation. The 

 cheese, on being for the last time taken out of 

 j the vat, is carried to the salting-house, and 

 j placed in the vat in a tub filled to a consider- 

 able depth with brine, in which it stands for 

 several days, being regularly turned once at 

 least every day. The vat is then removed from 

 the brine-tub; and the cheese being taken out, 

 is placed on the salting-bench, where it stands 

 for eight or ten days, salt being carefully rub- 

 i bed over the whole every day during the period. 

 I When the cheese is of a large size, it is com- 



