CHEESE. 



CHEESE. 



Pine Jpple Cheese. E. Perkins, of Herkimer 

 county, New York, a fine dairy district, gives 

 the following description of the mode of mak- 

 ing those cheeses moulded in the pine-apple 

 form. These weigh from 7 to 8 Ibs., and are 

 chieily made in the small dairy establishments. 

 The cheese-making process, until fit for the 

 press, is pretty much like that usually pursued 

 in making common cheeses. Some add a little 

 more salt. The pressing is performed in wooden 

 blocks, griped together, and, after this process, 

 the cheeses are suspended in nets, till so har- 

 dened as to stand on a trencher made for the 

 purpose, where they remain till fit for market. 

 This kind of cheese is chiefly made under 

 contract. If the purchaser finds the pressers, 

 nets, and trenchers, the price is from 7 to 7 

 cents per Ib. When the maker finds every 

 thing he gets about 8 or 9 cents per Ib. In the 

 preparation of pine-apple cheese, more al- 

 lowance is made for shrinkage than in the 

 manufacture of common cheese. (Farmer's 

 Instructor.) 



All new cheeses require to be well dried to 

 fit them for the market, and when taken out 

 of the moulds must be laid upon a shelf and 

 turned every day for some time. This opera- 

 tion was formerly done by hand, which proved 

 very laborious. But contrivances have been 

 invented by which the work can now be done 

 very quickly and without the least exertion of 

 strength. Some of these ' will be found men- 

 tioned under the head DATIIT. 



After the cheeses have passed through the 

 different processes, and the drying is com- 

 pleted, they are to be deposited in the cheese 

 or store-room. This should be dry and airy, 

 and the hard and soft cheeses ought not to be 

 kept in the same room. In some of the best 

 dairy districts in the United States, it is thought 

 best not to darken the cheese rooms, or attempt 

 to keep out the flies, but in hot, sultry weather, 

 the doors and windows are opened to admit 

 the air freely. Cool dry air blowing directly 

 upon the cheeses, is apt to crack them. These 

 cracks are to be filled up with pepper, either 

 black or cayenne. To mature cheese fast, the 

 room should be kept warm in the fall and 

 spring. 



We learn from the Transactions of the High- 

 land Agricultural Society in Scotland, that the 

 flavour of an old cheese may be communicated 

 to a new one of whatever species, by the in- 

 sertion of some portions of the old into the 

 new cheese. Small pieces are to be extracted 

 with a sample-scoop from each cheese, and 

 those taken from the old are to be inserted into 

 the new, and those from the new put into the 

 old. After this interchange, the new one, if 

 kept well excluded from the air, will, in a few 

 . become thoroughly impregnated with 

 the mould, and have a flavour hardly to be 

 distinguished from the old one. The cheese 

 selected must be dry, and the blue mould 

 should be free from any portion of a more de- 

 cayed appearance. 



A great variety of cheeses are made in 

 Switzerland, the most celebrated of which are 

 ihe Schabzieser, (or sap-sago as we commonly 

 call it.) and the Gruyere. Of the quantity of 

 cheeses exported from Switzerland, we have 

 316 



no information that can be relied upon; bu It 

 is computed that 30,000 cwt. of Gruyere cheese 

 alone, fit for exportation, is annually made ; 

 and that, from the middle of July to October, 

 300 horses, weekly, are employed in transport- 

 ing Swiss cheese over Mount Grias. (For. 

 Rev. and Co-tit. Misc.) 



" The Schabzieger cheese is made by the moun- 

 taineers of the canton of Glarus alone; and, in 

 its greatest perfection, in the valley of Kloen. 

 It is readily distinguished by its marbled ap- 

 pearance and aromatic flavour, both produced 

 by the bruised leaves of the melilot. The 

 dairy is built near a stream of water; the ves- 

 sels containing the milk are placed on gravel 

 or stone in the dairy, and the water conducted 

 into it in such a manner as to reach their 

 brim. The milk is exposed to the tempera- 

 ture of about six degrees of Reaumur (forty-six 

 degrees of Fahrenheit), for five or six days, 

 and in that time the cream is completely 

 formed. After this it is drained off, the case- 

 ous particles are separated, by the addition 

 of some sour milk, and not by rennet. The 

 curd thus obtained is pressed strongly in bags, 

 on which stones are laid; when sufficiently 

 pressed and dried, it is ground to powder in 

 autumn, salted, and mixed with either the 

 pressed flowers, powdered and sifted, or the 

 seeds of the melilot trefoil (Melilotus offirindlis, 

 PL 10, /). The practice of mixing the flowers 

 or the seeds of plants with cheese was com- 

 mon among the Romans, who used those of 

 the thyme for that purpose. The entire sepa- 

 ration of the cream or unctuous portion of the 

 milk is indispensable in the manufacture of 

 Schabzieger. The unprepared curd never sells 

 for more than three halfpence a pound; 

 whereas, prepared as Schabzieger, it sells for 

 sixpence or seven-pence. (For. Rev. and Cont 

 Misc.) 



" The Gruyere cheese of Switzerland is so named 

 after a valley, where the best of that kind is 

 made. Its merit depends chiefly on the herb- 

 age of the mountain pastures, and partly on 

 the custom of mixing the flowers of bruised 

 seeds of Melilotus ojficindlis with the curd, before 

 it is pressed. The mountain pastures are 

 rented at so much per cow's feed from the 15th 

 of May to the 18th of October; and the cows 

 are hired from the peasants, at so much, for 

 the same period. On the precise day both 

 land and cows return to their owners. It is 

 estimated that 15,000 cows are so grazed, and 

 30,000 cwt. of cheese made fit for exportation, 

 besides what is reserved for home use. 



" Ewe-nulk cheese of Switzerland, One measure 

 of ewe's milk is added to three measures of 

 cow's milk ; little rennet is used, and no acid. 

 The best Swiss cheese of this kind is made by 

 the Bergamese sheep-masters, on Mount Splu- 

 en." (For. Rev. and Con.t. Jlj/Vv.) 



Sage Cheese, an humble imitation of the Swiss 

 green cheese much relished in some parts of 

 the United States. " To make this cheese, take 

 the tops of young red sage, and having pressed 

 the juice from them by beating in a mortar, 

 do the same with the leaves of spinach, and 

 then mix the two juices together. After put- 

 ting the rennet to the milk, pour in some of this 

 juice, regulating the quantity by the degree of 



