286 Milk and Its Products 



Cheshire. Cheshire is a cheese of the ordinary 

 type, soft in texture and rather high in flavor. It 

 takes its name from the county in England where 

 it is most largely made, and is one of the most 

 important of English cheeses. Cheshire cheese is 

 made from whole milk, night's and morning's milk 

 mixed together and of some degree of ripeness. In 

 many dairies the night's milk is skimmed in the 

 morning before the morning's milk is added to it, 

 and the cream so obtained reserved to be added to 

 the cream of the following day at the same time 

 that the cream removed the day before is added to 

 the milk from which the cream is taken. This is 

 done in order to secure a certain degree of ripe- 

 ness. The milk is set at about 85 F., with enough 

 rennet to cause a rather firm coagulation in about 

 an hour. It is then cut with a perpendicular knife 

 lengthwise of the vat, and allowed to stand ten 

 minutes or until a considerable amount of whey is 

 separated, and is then cut crosswise and a second 

 time lengthwise. It is not ordinarily cut with the 

 horizontal knife at all. After cutting, it is care- 

 fully stirred with the hand for about an hour, dur- 

 ing the latter part of which time heat is applied 

 to bring the contents of the vat back again to 

 85 F. When the curd is firm enough so that a 

 piece thrown 15 to 18 inches in the air and caught 

 in the hand does not break it is allowed to settle, 

 usually for about half an hour, but before any acid 

 develops in the whey the curd is carefully pushed 

 to one end of the vat and the whey drawn off. 



