CHEESE. 



The ring, which opens readily by un- 

 hooking the cord, allows the cheese 

 to come out, and is put on again and 

 tightened. This is repeated two or 

 three times in the day. In the even- 

 ing, a small portion of finely powder- 

 ed salt is rubbed on each side of the 

 cheese, and it remains in the press 

 till the next morning. It is now 

 again rubbed with salt, and placed 

 on a shelf with a loose board under 

 it. Tlie wooden ring remains on the 

 cheese for two or three days, and is 

 Ihen taken off. This is the whole 

 process. 



During the next six or eight weeks 

 the cheeses are turned and wiped 

 every day, and a small quantity of 

 fine salt is sifted on the surface and 

 rubbed in with the hand until it will 

 take no more. The cheese-room is 

 always very cool, and little light is 

 admitted. A free circulation of air 

 is essential. The cheeses are in per- 

 fection in about six months, and will 

 keep two years. A quantity of elas- 

 tic fluid is disengaged in the ripening, 

 and forms those round cells which 

 are a peculiar feature in these chees- 

 es. The smaller and rounder the 

 cells, the better the cheese is reck- 

 oned. They should contain a clear 

 salt liquor, which is called the tears ; 

 when these dry up, the cheese loses 

 its flavour. These particulars will 

 give any one unacquainted with the 

 dairy a tolerable notion of the pro- 

 cess of cheese-making in general. 



In Cheshire the making of cheese 

 is carried on in great perlection, and 

 the greatest pains are taken to ex- 

 tract every particle of whey. For 

 this purpose, the curd is repeatedly 

 broken and mixed, the cheeses are 

 much pressed, and placed in wooden 

 bo.xes which have holes bored into 

 them. Through these holes sharp 

 skewers are stuck into the cheese in 

 every direction, so that no particle 

 of whey can remain in the curd. The 

 elastic matter formed also escapes 

 tlirough these channels, and the en- 

 tire cheese is a solid mass without 

 holes, which in this cheese would be 

 looked upon as a great defect. The 

 salt is intimately mixed with the 

 148 



!curd, and not merely rubbed on the 

 outside. This checks internal fer- 

 mentation, and prevents the forma- 

 tion of elastic matter. 



(Jiouccslcr and Somersefxhire chees- 

 es are similarly made, with this dif- 

 ference, that the curd is not so often 

 broken, or the cheese skewered, and 

 a portion of the cream is generally 

 abstracted to make butter. After 

 the curd has been separated from the 

 whey and is broken fine, warm water 

 is poured over it for the purpose of 

 washing out any remaining whey, or 

 perhaps to dissolve any portion of 

 butter which may have separated be- 

 fore the rennet had coagulated the 

 milk ; for although cream adds to the 

 richness of cheese, butter tends to 

 make it rancid. 



Stillon cheese is made by adding 

 the cream of the preceding evening's 

 milk to the morning's milking. The 

 cream should be intimately incorpo- 

 rated with the new milk ; great at- 

 tention should be paid to the tem- 

 perature of both, and much of the 

 quality of the cheese depends on this 

 part of the process. To make this 

 cheese in perfection, as much de- 

 pends on the management of the 

 cheese after it is made as on the 

 richness of the milk. Each dairy 

 has some peculiar method which is 

 considered best ; and it is certain that 

 there is the greatest difference be- 

 tween cheeses made in contiguous 

 dairies. The rennet should be very 

 pure and sweet. When the milk is 

 coagulated, the whole curd is taken 

 out, drained on a sieve, and very mod- 

 erately pressed. It is then put into 

 a shape in the form of a cylinder, 

 eight or nine inches in diameter, the 

 axis of which is longer than the diam- 

 eter of the base. When it is suffi- 

 ciently firm, a cloth or tape is wound 

 round it to prevent its breaking, and 

 it is set on a shelf It is occasional- 

 ly powdered with flour, and plunged 

 into hot water. This hardens the 

 outer coat, and favours the internal 

 fermentation, which ripens it. Stil- 

 ton cheese is generally preferred 

 when a green mould appears in its 

 texture. To accelerate this, pieces 



