38 



with the best kinds made in the best markets. Thus comparisons 

 are instituted and investigation promoted. It is needless to say 

 that the result is progress. 



The following is the description of the process of manufacturing 

 the famous Cheddar cheese, as given in the same Report : — 



" In the improved Cheddar process, adopted by Mr. Harding, of 

 England, great attention is paid to the milk-house. It is con- 

 structed with reference to regulating temperature by admission or 

 exclusion of air, and exposing the milk to a fresh and untainted 

 atmosphere. The evening's milk is cooled to 60 or 62 degrees, 

 and the highest temperature at which it should stand in the morn- 

 ing is 64 degrees. When the temperature is high in the evening, 

 the milk is set thin in coolers, and exposed to a free admission of 

 air. The first act in the morning is to test the temperature of 

 the evening's milk. If the temperature is above 62 degrees, the 

 milk is allowed to remain in the plates or coolers until the morn- 

 ing's milk is put in the cheese tub. But if the evening's milk is 

 at or under 62 degrees, it is lifted and sieved through a fine cloth 

 into the cheese tub, and the morning's milk added to it. When 

 the temperature of the evening's milk is high in the morning, 

 it is an indication that it is on its way towards acidity. 



" The testing of the cold milk by the thermometer serves as a 

 guide for the quantity of rennet needed for coagulation, as less is 

 necessary when the evening's milk stands at a high temperature 

 in the morning. In the Chedder process of manufacture it is 

 preferred that the milk be kept at a low temperature, and the 

 acid (which is sour whey distinctly acid) to be applied directly 

 to the milk at the time of adding the rennet. 



" Its use is to assist the rennet in the more complete conversion 

 of the sugar of milk into lactic acid. When this is effected to a 

 proper degree, and no more, the acid passes away in the whey 

 during pressing and in the cheese-room, leaving the curd in a con- 

 dition that will not only make the cheese produced more solid and 

 close in texture, but richer, firmer, sweeter, and of greater specific 

 gravity than when the acid has not been present in a suflficient 

 quantity. When the temperature of the cold milk is 64 degrees, 

 no sour whey is used, the acid being present in a sufficient degree 

 without it. In large dairies less sour whey is needed in proportion 

 to the milk than in small ones. 



, " The milk is set at 78 degrees, and if the temperature of the 

 evening's milk has been kept at about 60 degrees, five quarts of 

 sour whey, distinctly acid, is added to 165 gallons of milk, at the 

 time of putting in the rennet, and coagulation is effected in from 

 forty-five to sixty minutes. It is preferred that coagulation be 

 perfected in so short a time, as there will be waste of richness if 

 it is protracted. 



