CHEESE. 



CHEESE. 



monly surrounded with a wooden hoop or fillet j 

 of cloth to prevent renting. After it is sup-; 

 posed to be sufficiently salted, it is washed in j 

 warm water or whey, and when well dried with 

 a cloth, is placed on what is called the drying- 

 bench, where it remains a like period before it 

 is removed to the keeping-house or cheese- j 

 chamber. 



The last part of the business is the manage- ' 

 ment in the cheese-room. In Gloucestershire the ! 

 young cheeses are fumed every day, or every 

 two "i- three days, according to the state of the 

 weather, or the fancy or judgment of the dairy- 

 woman. If the air be cold and dry. the win- 

 dows and door are kept shut as much as may 

 be ; if close and moist, as much fresh air as 

 possible is admitted. Having remained about 

 ten days in the dairy (more or less, according 

 to the space of time between the washings), 

 the cheeses are cleaned ; that is, washed and 

 scraped. 



The produce of a dairy of cows, where the 

 milk is converted into cheese, is very various- 

 ly stated by different writers. In some districts 

 2 cwts. from each cow, whether a good or a 

 bad milker, if at all in milk, is considered a 

 good return. In others, the average runs as 

 high as 3 cwt. ; and in the county of Wilts in 

 particular, from 3$ to 4 cwts. is the usual 

 quantity. From accurate calculations made 

 by Mr. Marshall, and these several times re- 

 peated, he found that in Gloucestershire about 

 15 gallons of milk were requisite for making 

 little more than 11 Ibs. of two-meal cheese, and 

 that one gallon of new milk produced a pound 

 of curd. It is the general opinion of dairy 

 farmers that the produce from two and a half 

 to three and a half acres is necessary to main- 

 tain a cow all the year round. Taking, there- 

 fore, the medium of the three averages of 

 cheese above mentioned (amounting to ;3.~>r> \\>*. 

 from each cow), the quantity of cheese by the 

 acre is 1 18 Ibs. Every calculation of this kind 

 must, however, be extremely vague and un- 

 certain. See DAIRY. 



In the making of Parmesan cheese, we are 

 informed by Mr. Price, in the Papersofthe Bath 

 ami IT. Kn'l. Society (vol. vii.), that the method 

 is "to put, ai ten o'clock in the morning, five 

 niN and a half of milk, each brent about 

 rty-eight quarts, into a large copper, which 

 urns on a crane over a slow wood fire, made 

 about two feet below the surface of the ground ; 

 he milk is stirred from time to time, and about 

 (eleven o'clock, when just lukewarm, or con- 

 iderably under a blood-heat, a ball of rennet, 

 is big as a large walnut, is squeezed through 

 a cloth into the milk, which is kept stirred. 

 3y the help of the crane the copper is turned 

 Torn over the fire, and left till a few minutes 

 past twelve; at which time the rennet has 

 utticiently operated. It is now stirred up, and 

 left for a short time. Part of the whey is then 

 taken out, and the copper again turned over a 

 fire sufficiently brisk to give a strongish heat, 

 but below that of boiling. A quarter of an 

 ounce of saffron is new put into the milk to 

 give it a little colour ; and it is well stirred 

 from time to time. The dairy-man frequently 

 feels the curd. When the small, and, as it 

 were, granulated parts, feel rather firm, which 



is in about an hour and a half, the copper is 

 taken from the fire, and the curd left to fall to 

 the bottom. Part of the whey is taken out, and 

 the curd brought up in a coarse cloth, hanging 

 together in a tough state. It is then put into 

 a hoop, and about a half hundred weight laid 

 upon it for about an hour; after which the cloth 

 is taken oft', and the cheese placed on a shelf 

 in the same hoop. At the end of two, or from 

 that to three days, it is sprinkled all over with 

 salt; the same is repeated every second day 

 for about forty or forty-five days, after which 

 no further attention is required. While salt- 

 ing, they generally place two cheeses one upon 

 another; in which :state they are said to take 

 the salt better than singly. The country be- 

 tween Cremona and Lodi, says Mr. Evans, 

 comprises the richest part of the Milanese. 

 The irrigation, too, is brought to the highest 

 degree of perfection ; the grass is cut four 

 times a year as fodder for the cows, from whose 

 milk is made the well-known Parmesan cheese. 

 The cows, which are kept in the stall nearly 

 all the year round, are fed during summer on. 

 two of these crops of grass or clover, which 

 are cut green; and in the winter on the other 

 two, which are hayed. The milk of at least 

 fifty cows is required for the manufacture of 

 one Parmesan cheese. Hence, as one farm 

 rarely affords pasture for such a number, [tit 

 usual for the farmers or metayers of a district 

 to club together. (Quart. Journ. of jUgr. vol. v. 

 p. 622.) 



( cheese is made in various places ; but 

 that which is generally known by the name of 

 Stilton is made in Leicestershire, in the follow- 

 ing manner, according to the Agricultural Re- 

 port of that county : The night's cream is put 

 into the morning's new milk with the rennet; 

 but when the curd is come it is not broken, as 

 is done with other cheeses, but is taken out 

 with a soildish altogether, and placed in a 

 sieve to drain gradually; and, as it drains, it 

 is pressed, till it becomes firm and dry ; being 

 then placed in a wooden hoop, and afterwards 

 kepi dry on boards, it is turned frequently, 

 with doth binders round it, which are tightened 

 as occasion requires. Cream cheese of good 

 quality is likewise made, in some districts, by 

 adding the cream of one meal's milk to the 

 milk which is immediately taken from the 

 cow. This, after being made and pressed 

 gently two or three times, and carefully turned 

 for a day or two, is fit for use. 



Since the late reduction of duties in England 

 upon provisions introduced from abroad, cheese 

 has been among the articles extensively ship- 

 ped from the United States to that country, 

 where the complaint against American cheese 

 is, that it is generally insufficiently pressed, a 

 fault which gives it, when cut, a porous or 

 honeycomb appearance. Its flavour is also 

 rendered unpleasant by the too free use of 

 'rennet. The removal of these defects would 

 j very much enhance the value of American, 

 cheese both at home and abroad. Neverthe- 

 less, cheese of excellent qualities as to richness, 

 flavour, and other requisites, is made in the 

 northern portions of the Middle and Western 

 States and throughout New England. See 

 i DAIBI. 



15 



