266 DUTCH AND PARMESAN CHEESE. 



damp as to render them mouldy on the outside ; ai.d no 

 partial fermentation is excited, but the cheese is pre- 

 served sound and good. 



DUTCH CHEESE. The most celebrated of the Dutch 

 cheeses is the Edam, of North Holland, and the Gouda. 

 The manufacture of these and other varieties will be 

 described in a subsequent chapter, on Dairy Husbandry 

 in Holland. 



The PARMESAN is an Italian cheese, made of one meal 

 of milk, allowed to stand sixteen hours, to which is 

 added another which has stood eight hours. The cream 

 being taken from both, the skim-milk is heated an hour 

 over a slow fire, and constantly stirred till it reaches 

 about eighty-two degrees, when the rennet is put in and 

 an hour allowed to form the curd. The curd is 

 thoroughly broken or cut, after which a part of the 

 whey is removed, and the curd is then heated nearly 

 up to the boiling point, when a little saffron is added to 

 color it. It then stands over the fire about half an 

 hour, when it is taken off, and nearly all the rest of 

 the whey removed, cold water being added, till the 

 curd is cool enough to handle. It is then surrounded 

 with a cloth, and, after being partially dried, is put 

 into a hoop and remains there two days. It is then 

 sprinkled with salt for thirty days in summer, or about 

 forty in winter. One cheese is then laid above another 

 to allow them to take the salt ; after which they are 

 scraped and cleansed every day, and rubbed with lin- 

 seed-oil to preserve them from the attack of insects, and 

 they are ready for sale at the age of six months. 



AMERICAN CHEESE, as it is called in the English 

 markets, whither large quantities are shipped for sale, 

 is made of almost every conceivable variety and quality, 

 from the richest Cheddar or Cheshire to the poorest 

 skim-milk cheese. The statements of some of the best 



