CHEESE. 



of a mouldy cheese are sometimes 

 inserted into holes made for the pur- 

 pose by the scoop called a taslcy; and 

 wine or ale is poured over for the 

 same purpose : but the best cheeses 

 do not require this, and are in per- 

 fection when the inside becomes soft 

 like butter, without any appearance 

 of mouldiness. In making very rich 

 cheeses, the whey must be allowed 

 to run off slowly, because, if it were 

 forced rapidly, it might carry off a 

 great portion of the fat of the cheese. 

 This happens more or less in every 

 mode of inakinir cheese. To collect 

 tliis superabundant butter, the whey 

 is set in shallow pans, as is done 

 with milk when butter is made ; and 

 an inferior kind of butter, called u-kcy 

 buffer, is made from the cream or fat 

 skimmed off. 



Cheeses are frequently coloured, a 

 practice which probably arose from 

 the notion of making the cheese look 

 richer ; but now it deceives no one. 

 Yet if some cheeses were not colour- 

 ed, they would not be so marketable, 

 owing to the association that subsists 

 between the colour and the quality 

 of the cheese. The substance used 

 for colouring is most commonly ar- 

 notto, which is ground fine on a 

 stone, and mixed with the milk at 

 the time the rennet is put in. The 

 juice of the orange carrot and the 

 flower of marigold are also used for 

 this purpose. This last gives a more 

 natural tint than the arnotto, which 

 is too red. 



Dutch cheeses are made in a very 

 similar manner to the Gloucester 

 cheeses, but the milk is generally 

 curdled by means of muriatic acid or 

 spirits of salt ; and great care is ta- 

 ken to prevent fermentation, and to 

 extract the whole of the whey. For 

 this purpose, the curd is repeatedly 

 broken and pressed ; and before it is 

 made up into the round shape in 

 which it is usually sold, the broken 

 curd is well soaked in a strong solu- 

 tion of common salt in %\'ater. This 

 diffuses the salt throughout the whole 

 mass, and efli'Ctually checks ferment- 

 ation. When the cheesps are finally 

 pressed, all the whey which may re- 

 N 2 



main is washed out with the brine ; 

 salt is likewise rubbed over the out- 

 side, and they are set to dry on 

 shelves in a cool place. The flavour 

 of the cheese is perhaps impaired by 

 the stoppage of the fermentation ; 

 but it never heaves, and it acquires 

 the valuable quality of keeping well 

 even in warm climates. From the 

 place where this cheese is commonly 

 made, it is known by the name of 

 Edam cheese. A finer cheese is 

 made at Gouda and other places, by 

 iinitating the process in making Gru- 

 yere cheese ; but this cheese is al- 

 ways full of small cavities, and will 

 not keep so long as the Edam. The 

 little cheeses made from cream and 

 folded in paper, called Ncufrliaicl 

 cheeses, can be easily imitated, being 

 nothing more than cream thickened 

 by heat, and pressed in a small mould. 

 They undergo a rapid change, first 

 becoming sour and then mellow, in 

 which state they nmst be eaten. 



The green Swiss cheese, common- 

 ly called Schabzieger, is made in the 

 canton of Glarus, and is by many 

 persons highly esteemed. The curd 

 is pressed in boxes with holes to let 

 the whey run out ; and when a con- 

 siderable quantity has been collected, 

 and putrefaction begins, it is worked 

 into a paste with a large proportion 

 of a certain dried herb reduced to 

 powder. This herb, called in the 

 country dialect Zieger kraut (curd 

 herb), is the Melilotus officinalis., which 

 is very common in most countries, 

 and has a peculiar aromatic flavour 

 in the mountains of Switzerland. The 

 paste thus produced is pressed into 

 moulds of the shape of a common 

 flower-pot, and the putrefaction be- 

 ing stopped by the aromatic herb, it 

 dries into a solid mass, which keeps 

 unchanged for any length of time. 

 When used it is rasped or scraped, 

 and the powder, mixed with fresh 

 butter, is spread upon bread. It is 

 either much relished or much dis- 

 liked, like all those substances wliich 

 have a peculiar taste and smell. 



\Mien a cheese? which has been 

 much salted and kept very dry ig 

 washed several times in soft water, 



149 



