CHEESE. 



raonly surrounded with a wooden hoop or fillet 

 of cloth to prevent renting. After it is sup- 

 posed to be sufficiently salted, it is washed in 

 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- 

 chamber. 



The last part of the business is the manage- 

 ment in the cheese-room. In Gloucestershire the 

 young cheeses are turned every day, or every 

 two or 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 iiMial 

 quantity. From accurate calculations made 

 by Mr. Marshall, and these several tinu^ p-- 

 pealed, he found that in Gloucestershire about 

 15 gallons of milk were requisite for making 

 little- more than 11 Ibs.of two-m-al eh-'- 

 that one gallon of new milk produced a pound 

 of curd. It is the gem-nil opinion of dairy 

 farmers that the produce from t\vo and a half 

 to three and a half acres is necessary t 

 tain a cow all the y-ar round. Taking, there- 

 fore, the medium of the three avera 

 cheese above mentioned (amounting to 355 Ibs. 

 from i-ac-h cow), the quantity of cheese by the 

 1 18 Ibs. Every calculation of this kind 

 must, however, be extremely vague and un- 

 certain. See DAIHY. 



In the making of Parmesan cheese, we are 

 informed by Mr. Price, in the Payers of the Bath 

 and W. i/ (vol. vii.), that the method 



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

 brents and a half of milk, each brent about 

 forty-eight quarts, into a large copper, which 

 turns on a crane over a slow wood fire, made 

 about two feet below the surface of the ground ; 

 the milk is stirred from time to time, and about 

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

 s' ' Tably under a blood-heat, a ball of rennet, 

 -T as a large walnut, is squeezed through 

 i cloth into the milk, which is kept stirred. 

 By the help of the crane the copper is turned 

 from over the fire, and left till a few minutes 

 past twelve; at which time the rennet has 

 sufficiently 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 now 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 



CHEESE. 



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 off, 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 

 raii-ly affords pasture for such a number, it is 

 usual for the farmers or metayers of a district 

 to club together. (Quart. Juu'rn. of Agr. vol. v. 

 p. 622.) 



i 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 Jigrirultnvul AY- 



ihat 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 

 kept dry on boards, it is turned frequently, 

 with cloth 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 

 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 throughoui Nev England. Sen 

 DAIRT. 



ill 



