218 Milk and Its Products. 



in the press it is put in a hoop of larger diameter 

 and vice versa When the cheese is put in the cur- 

 ing-room, the growth of a white mold on the ends is 

 encouraged by laj'ing on the upper end of the cheese 

 a plate or round piece of slate. The cheeses are 

 kept on straw in the curing- room, and when ready 

 for market the ends of the cheese, except where the 

 plate has lain, are cleaned and polished, and the 

 marks of the straw show in the white mold in the 

 center. Cheshire cheese is usually colored. When 

 of good quality it is of a soft and somewhat gran- 

 ular texture, dissolving readily on the tongue, and 

 with a pronounced and rather sharp cheese flavor. 



Lancashire. — Lancashire cheese is very similar to 

 Cheshire, though it is made somewhat softer and the 

 flavor is more pronounced. No heat is used to aid 

 in the separation of the whey, and ordinarily, when 

 ready for the press, the curd is divided into two 

 portions, one of which is mixed with the curd 

 retained from the preceding day and pressed, and 

 the other kept to be mixed with the curd made on 

 the following day. 



Derbyshire and Leicestershire. — These cheeses are 

 made by modifications of the Cheddar process. They 

 are intended to produce a somewhat softer cheese to 

 ripen in a shorter time. Both are pressed in flat 

 shapes, not over six inches in height and about six- 

 teen inches in diameter. The Derbyshire is white, 

 the Leicestershire highly colored. Both should be 

 covered with dark mold when ready for the market. 

 They bear the same relation to English Cheddar 



