680 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



ened with hot whey or water, gathered, and pressed in wooden hoops. It is less solid 

 than that next before described. 



Formaggio di Grana. Milk is ponred into caldrons and placed on the fire. If mature, 

 t. e., bluish (as it should be in summer), it is warmed to the twenty-fifth degree; ii 

 sound, i. <?., retaining the whiteness and sweet taste of freshly milked, it is heated to the 

 thirtieth degree. At this temperature, as tested by the hand, it is removed from the fire 

 and mixed with rennet. One-sixth of an ounce of rennet is used per 720 quarts of milk. 

 The rennet is dissolved with a pestle in woodeii cups, filtered through horse-hair sieves, 

 the oozing going into the caldron of milk. To prevent hardness the curd formed is broken 

 and turned with the cream- turner, roiilla (or stick with wooden disk at end), and spino 

 (or cane with twisted twigs or iron pins at one extremity). This is continued for three 

 quarters of an hour, while concretions appearing on the surface are removed by hand. 



Turning is stopped for two or three minute intervals to consolidate but not harden the 

 now softened or dissolved curd. The whey is removed and one-sixth of an ounce of saf- 

 fron, per 110 quarts of milk, thrown into the caldron. The curd is replaced and left foi 

 one hour on the fire, heated to the forty-fifth degree (but not higher), and continually 

 stirred with the rotilla. 



A cup is filled with curd for examination as to the minuteness of its particles. If small 

 enough the caldron is removed, and the curd sinks and forms on its bottom. To hasten 

 this the cooled whey (before drained off to enable the adding of saffron) is poured into 

 the caldron, the bottom of which is pressed with the rotilla to unite and incorporate tho 

 curd. The curd is loosed with a stick from the sides of the caldron, lifted, drawn on 

 the surface, collected in a cloth, placed and left for one hour in a vat, and there wet 

 with whey. It is marked with the name of the owner of that day's cheese, pressed 

 for drainage by hand in a box of narrow beech boards bound with hoops and pack- 

 thread and covered with linen, a wooden disk, and a heavy stone. When dried these 

 coverings are removed and it is rewet with whey, and then covered with buckram, 

 which, under pressure of the disk and stone, makes reticulated imprints on its circular 

 surface. After some hours the buckram is cut, and the clippings removed to permit the 

 whey to dry in. It is covered and rubbed on an oak bench with salt, dipped in salt 

 water, and repressed between the beech boards. Sometimes several forms are simul- 

 taneously pressed to improve the under by the salt moisture from the upper. It is re- 

 salted every other day for two weeks, then put in the cheese-house, where superfluous 

 salt is removed by scraping. In September it is rubbed with cheap oil. 



The cows of the numerous dairies of Puglia and Basilicata are milked once daily. 

 Their milk, when poured into large vats, is divided and half heated to a point which 

 will make it and the unheated mixed, when tested by the hand, 30 Reaumur. Whey 

 of goat's milk is mixed and shaken in it. While curdling it is covered with a cloth to 

 keep up the temperature. When curdled it is broken, stirred with the rotolo till in iil- 

 bert-sized pieces, placed with whey in a vat, rebeaten, wet, and covered with warm whey 

 to "grow." 



When by heating on hot coals or boiling in water ductility is obtained, the curd is 

 called "erescttito," or grown. This property acquired, it is cut, the pieces thrown into 

 the pail, where they are wet with hot water, reunited, manipulated, pulled into thread, 

 and made into as many balls as there are cheeses to be made. These thread balls are im- 

 mersed in the water which served to make them, manipulated till homogeneous and 

 compact, formed by hand into proper shapes, and daily salted for two or three days. 

 Cheese thus made is called " caciocavallo diPugUa." 



The caciocavallo of Calabria is a cows' milk product, prepared by slight modifications 

 of the usual cheese-making process. Upon coagulation turn the resultant mass, and 

 gather, after due heating, the caseine. Form it, by stirring and pressure, into uniform 

 and consistent paste; subject this, in vats, to the action of hot whey; thence remove it 

 to tables for working, where, arranged in orbicular forms and covered with cloth, leave 

 it to the chemical action of its constituent parts. During this time, when fermentation 

 begins, it is cut in slices, which are immersed and shaken -in hot water, manipulated to 

 drain off the whey, &c., reduced by water and heat to homogeneity, replaced on tables 

 and rendered soft, adhesive, and ductile by frequent dipping and turning in cold water. 

 In this state it is divided, shaped in oval forms, kept the first day in cold water to pro- 

 duce elasticity and consistency; the next, in salt. Thus finished, it is fastened to the 

 end of a stick, and hung from the beam of the cheese-house. 



Cows' milk, when coagulated and lightly broken, produces a semi-solid excretion or 

 discharge, which forms the essential substance of rasco cheese. This is placed in vats, 

 lightly shaken; dipped quickly three or four times in hot whey, removed, and replaced 

 when sufficiently solid, upside down, in these vats; then kept for twenty-four hours, 

 slightly salted and taken to cool, dry rooms for keeping. This cheese is made from June 

 to October, the season when the milk is most buttery. It is soft, white, and soluble ai 

 a lov. degree of heat. 



