336 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK n.' 



the term, for it is not coagulated casein, nor is rennet used in its 

 manufacture. 



The process of making any kind of cheese, except cream cheese, is 

 much more difficult than that of manufacturing butter, and the quality 

 depends as much, perhaps, on the mode of performing the various 

 operations as on the richness of the milk. The temperature at which 

 the milk is kept before it is formed into cheese, and that at which it is 

 coagulated or turned into curd, are objects of considerable importance 

 in the management of a cheese dairy : the former should not exceed 

 60 F. nor fall below 50, and for the latter it should be occasionally 

 from 78 to 82. If the milk is kept too warm it is apt to become 

 sour, and to give a bad taste to the cheese. If it is allowed to be 

 much colder it becomes difficult to separate the curd from the whey, 

 and the cheese made from it will be soft and insipid. If the curd is 

 coagulated too hot, it becomes tough ; much of the butyraceous matter 

 is carried off with the whey, and the cheese is hard and tasteless. 

 The thermometer should, therefore, be employed in every dairy, and, 

 although the servants may at first be prejudiced against it, its evident 

 utility and great simplicity will eventually reconcile them to its use. 



The greatest care should be taken to thoroughly extract the whey 

 from the curd, for cheese is apt to heave where any whey remains ; and 

 if any part becomes sour, the whole will acquire a disagreeable flavour. 

 Similar effects are produced by the use of an immoderate quantity of 

 rennet. It is also apt to fill the cheese with small vesicles or holes, 

 which imperfection will likewise be produced if the cheese is allowed 

 to remain too long on one side or end. 



The cracking of cheese usually arises from the exterior drying too 

 fast, before the interior has become firm. This is commonly caused by 

 the atmosphere of the cheese-room being kept too dry, and at too high 

 a temperature. 



Various kinds of Soft Cheese, Camembert, Brie, Neuchatel, and a 

 score of others which differ more in name than in character, are made 

 in France and Germany, and some of our ardent reformers have 

 advocated the extensive manufacture of such cheese in England. It is 

 well, however, before rushing into any new practice to reflect whether the 

 public will support it by purchasing the product freely. The French 

 and Germans feed very differently from, and as a rule not half as well 

 as, the English, and the cheeses they prefer are more a relish than a 

 food, far inferior in nutritive value, pound for pound, to the solid, well 

 preserved cheeses of Great Britain. The Continental soft cheeses, too, 

 keep good only a few days, and any falling-off in demand would result 

 in serious loss. The tastes and habits of a nation are not changed in 

 a year, and so far the demand in England for soft cheese of any kind 

 has been, comparatively to that for hard cheese, practically non- 

 existent. The Slipcote Cheese of Rutland is, nearer than any other 

 we have, rather like some of the soft cheeses on the other side of the 

 Channel ; it has been made during a long period, but so far the 

 demand for it is small. Therefore, it does not appear likely that the 

 soft cheese industry can be held out to our farmers as a tempting pursuit 



