1847. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



223 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



Cheese Making. 



Mr. EniTOR : — Having just read an article on 

 Cheese Making in your valuable journal, 1 take 

 the liberty to make a few remarks upon that sub- 

 ject, having been an experienced practical Eng- 

 lish dairy-woman for 20 years. Since my resi- 

 dence in this country, 1 have often observed the 

 dilTerence of management in making cheese and 

 butter — likewise in preparing rennet, and have, 

 without egotism, always considered the English 

 mode the plainest, safest, and best. Shall 1 in- 

 trude by making a few observations ? 



The rennet ( used was prepared by myself. — 

 Having washed most thoroughly the stomach of 

 the calf in nine or ten pails of spring water, I 

 ■used to fill it with salt and lay it in a jar with a 

 thick layer of salt at the bottom-, covering it also 

 with a thick layer, and closing the jar at the top 

 with brown paper doubled, until the next spring, 

 at which time I filled the jar with strong brine, 

 and in a day or two made use of the rennet, 

 which was sweet and good, besides being very 

 fitr-ong. As we kept a large dairy I had gener- 

 ally three or four rennets in one jar. A very 

 small quantity of this strong rennet would answer 

 the purpose, viz : one tea-cup full for four pails 

 of milk ; the milk to be heated blood-warm, and 

 the rennet applied briskly and in a circular man- 

 ner around the cheese-tub; the coloring, formed 

 ■of anatto, rubbed upon a piece of broken ware in 

 a bowl of warm milk, and completely mixed with 

 the rennet in the tub ; within 20 minutes the 

 ■curd will be fit to break, which must be done 

 with both hands in a complete manner, and then 

 left to settle. In three quarters of an hour the 

 whey may be poured gently away through a range 

 into another tub, and then pressed well with the 

 hands, and even cut with a knife, and removed 

 from side to side to extract every drop of the 

 whey as much as possible. Then leave it a 

 <juarter of an hour to settle into firm curd ; after 

 w hich it may be broken very small into the vat, 

 piled up in a conical form with the cheese-cloth 

 tightly closed in at the sides. It will now be 

 time to place it in the press, (a heavy one,) and 

 in an hour's lime take it out, turn it, and having 

 well rinsed out the cheese-cloth in cold water, 

 the cheese may be replaced. At 4 o'clock in 

 the afternoon it must be taken out again, and a 

 dry cheese-cloth exchanged for the wet one; re- 

 place it in the press, and the next morning hav- 

 ing taken off the cheese-cloth, salt the vaf at the 

 bottom and rub a little into the cheese at the top 

 and sides, {if well closed,) replacing it without 

 any cloth ; turn again and salt the same at 4 

 o'clock P. M., also the next day, and if a thick 

 cheese, the day after. It is convenient to have 

 two presses; and the brine which runs from what 

 I call the dry press, will be useful to keep fresh 



for rennet in the autumn. Thick cheese should 

 always remain three days in the dry press, salted 

 twice a day. There would not be any occasion 

 of binding fillets around them if this was attended 

 to, besides making the rind very hard. 



When taken out of the press the cheese should 

 be turned every day upon the shelf and washed 

 in whey, in a fortnight or three week's time. — 

 The English plan is to soak the cheese about 10 

 minutes, and then scrape the rind upon a table, 

 wiping it very dry, and replacing it on the shelf 

 with a dock leaf or two spread upon the top ; and 

 if changed every other day it will soon be coated 

 with a beautiful bloom, and there would be no 

 occasion of rubbing butter on the outside ; for if 

 well made, cheese will not crack open — will bear 

 transportation to England icell, and keep for 2 

 years. Butter also would be much better trans- 

 ported in small barrels, with first a layer of but- 

 ter, then of salt alternately. The brine would 

 keep it good, if, when placed and pressed down 

 in the barrel, it had been properly made and the 

 butter-milk well washed out. 



Dairy work requires a great deal of care, 

 cleanliness, and time, without which it does not 

 answer, and the trouble and fatigue are complete- 

 ly lost — and the dairy, which would by vigilant 

 attention prove such a constant source of pleas- 

 ure to the farmer's wife, becomes a source of re- 

 morse, disappointment, and continual mortifica- 

 tion. Dairies in England are always paved with 

 stone or brick, and in warm weather kept con- 

 stantly wet, so that they are equal (when under- 

 ground, as our own Wiltshire dairy-house was 

 built,) to the spring houses in Ohio and Pennsyl- 

 vania ; the milk likewise being kept in large 

 leaden coolers, preserved the cream, and render- 

 ed it very thick and good. 



With a thousand apologies for occupying so 

 much space in your highly interesting journal, I 

 remain, sir, with great respect. 



Your much obliged friend, S. L. 



Ogden, N. Y., July, 1847. 



The writer of the above is entitled to our 

 thanks for her valuable communication. 



Recipe for making Yeast. — To two mid- 

 dling sized potatoes add a pint of boiling water, 

 and two table spoonfuls of brown sugar. One 

 pint of hot water should be applied to every half 

 pint of the compound. Hot water is better in 

 warm weather. The yeast being made without 

 flour, will keep longer in hot weather, and is 

 said to be much better than any in previous use. 

 Try it. — Maine Farmer. 



Baked Fish. — Cod, bass, and shad, are good 

 for baking. Stuff them with a seasoning made of 

 bread crumbs or crackers, butter, salt, pepper,^ 

 and, if you like, spices. Put the fish in a bake- 

 pan, with a tea-cup of water, and a bit of butter, 

 and bake from forty-five to sixty minutes. 



