DAIRY. 



553 



Dairy, a former meal. But it not unfrequently happens that 

 "~"Y"^" - ' a portion of the milk is reserved, and set by to be skim- 

 med for butter; and at the next milking this portion is 

 added to the new milk, from which an equal quantity 

 has been taken for a similar purpose. One meal cheeses 

 are principally made here, and go by the name of best 

 making, or simply one meal cheeses. In this county, 

 cheeses are distinguished into thin and thick, or single 

 and double. The last having usually four to the hun- 

 dred weight, the other about twice that number. 



Gloucester cheese is of a pleasant, mild taste, and 

 very agreeable to almost every palate. Mr Hazard 

 (4th vol. of the Bath Papers) says, that the best double 

 Gloucester is always made from new milk, or (as it is 

 termed by the people of this and the neighbouring 

 counties,) " covered milk ;" but that an inferior sort is 

 made from what they call " half-covered milk ;" and 

 when any of these latter happen to be particularly 

 good, they are sold by such as are not very scrupulous 

 in their dealings, for the "best covered milk cheese;" 

 " but honest farmers," continues he, " stamp them with 

 a heart-shaped stamp, by which they are distinguished. 

 The true single Gloucester cheese is thought by many 

 to be the best in point of flavour of any Ave have. The 

 season for making their thin or single cheese, is mostly 

 from April to November ; but the principal season for 

 the thick or double, is confined to May, June, and the 

 early part of July. This is the busy season in the dairy; 

 for at an earlier period the milk is not rich enough; 

 and if the cheeses be made later in the summer, they do 

 not acquire sufficient firmness to be marketable next 

 spring. Very good cheese, however, can be made even 

 in winter, from cows that are well fed. 



In this county, as well as in Wiltshire, and some 

 others, they milk their cows in summer at a very early 

 hour ; generally by four o'clock in the morning, before 

 the day becomes warm, and the animals restless and un- 

 ruly. They are again milked in the evening about the 

 same hour. Nothing requires greater attention than 

 this operation, from every farmer who would profit by 

 his dairy. It should never be confided to the manage- 

 ment of common servants. The farmer himself, or some 

 trusty person for him, should always superintend it. 

 For if a cow be not properly milked, it is perfectly well 

 known that her milk will not only be gradually dimi- 

 nished in quantity, but she will be in danger of going 

 dry altogether; and moreover, become liable to dis- 

 eases in consequence of the reabsorption of the milk. 

 Besides, it has been proved, that the last drawn parts o£ 

 the milk are vastly superior in quality to the first, and 

 therefore ought not by any means to be lost. 



When a one meal cheese is to be made, (and it will 

 be for the interest of every farmer to make one if he 

 has a sufficient number of cows,) the rennet is put to 

 the milk in a large vessel called a cheese-tub, imme- 

 diately on its being brought in warm from the cow. 

 As soon as coagulation has taken place, the whey is 

 carefully strained from the curd, and this is broken 

 small and equally by the hand. It is then by little 

 and little, (breaking it all the while,) put into a vat, 

 a strong vessel commoidy made of elan, and adapted 

 to the size and form of the intended cheese. The 

 vat is filled an inch or more above the brim. This is 

 done to prevent the curd from shrinking below its sides 

 when the whey is squeezed out ; for if the curd should 

 thus shrink, the force of the press being henceforth 

 sustained by the brim of the vat, the cheese would be 

 uninfluenced by it, and good tor little. Previously, 



VOL. VII. PART II. 



however, to the curds being put into the vat, a cheese- 

 cloth or strainer is spread over it, and is so large as to 

 be sufficient when turned up to envelope the whole 

 cheese. A smooth round board, about an inch thick, 

 is then laid on the vat, and the whole put into a press 

 to remain for two hours. It is then taken out, and the 

 cheese turned over. A clean dry cloth is substituted 

 for the wet one, and the press is again applied for six 

 or eight hours more. The cheese is now turned a se- 

 cond time, and rubbed on each side with salt. A dry 

 cloth being again furnished as above, it is a third time 

 put into the press, and allowed to remain for twelve or 

 fourteen hours. At this period of the process, if any 

 of the edges happen to project, they are paired off; 

 and the cheese being laid upon a dry board, is regular- 

 ly turned every day. To allow the escape of the whey, 

 holes are generally made in the lower part of the vat ; 

 for it is quite necessary that every drop of the whey 

 should be expelled. 



When cheeses of a large size are made, iron skewers 

 are thrust in various directions, through holes in the 

 sides of the vat into the curd, to facilitate, when with- 

 drawn, the escape of the whey ; and this is done re- 

 peatedly during the first day of pressing. 



Mr Marshall justly observes, that in every cheese 

 dairy there should be vats of various sizes constantly 

 in readiness. For if this be not the case, the dairy- 

 maid will often be limited in her choice, and unable to 

 adapt tlie vat or vats she employs to the quantity of 

 curd she happens to have in her cheese-tub ; and the 

 addition of a little overplus curd, which has been kept 

 from meal to meal, often spoils a whole cheese. Besides, 

 when three or four cheeses are made at a meal, a num- 

 ber of vats come to be actually in use. He observes, 

 with no less truth, that a great deal depends on the pro- 

 per construction of the press and its power. " If," says 

 be, " it does not press level, if it has too much play so 

 as to incline or become tottering or leaning one way or 

 another, and do not fall perpendicular upon the cheese- 

 board, one side of a cheese will frequently be thicker 

 than another ; and what is still worse, one side will be 

 thoroughly pressed, while the other is left soft and 

 spongy." Its power may be given by a screw, by a 

 lever, or by a dead weight, and ought to be proportioned 

 to the thickness of the cheese. " I had one," says he, 

 " constructed on the above principles, the power a dead 

 weight of stones contained in a cubical box, moving in 

 grooves, so as to keep its bottom horizontal, the me- 

 dium weight 1 cwt. 2 qrs. but regulated by the stones 

 agreeably to the thickness of the cheese or cheeses to 

 be pressed." 



As most people have attached the idea of excellence 

 to cheese of a high yellow or orange colour, the far- 

 mer, who would dispose of his cheese to advantage, is 

 in a great measure necessitated to impart such to what 

 he offers for sale. It is done by means of a preparation 

 from the Bixa orellana of Linnaeus, commonly called 

 Spanish annotlo. The red pulp, which covers the 

 seeds, is suspended in hot water, allowed to subside, 

 dried, and formed into cakes or balls. These are set 

 aside to dry more completely, and become perfectly 

 firm. An ounce of this substance, when genuine, is 

 sufficient to colour a hundred weight of cheese ; and 

 this is the proportion usually employed in the county of 

 Gloucester. They nib a piece of the annotto upon & 

 smooth stone kept for the purpose, and then mix it thus 

 levigated with the milk previously to applying the 

 rennet, Jt adds nothing to the goodness of the cheese, 

 4a 



Dair^ 



Method of 

 managing 

 in the 

 press. 



Skewering. 



Marshall's; 

 observa- 

 tions on 

 Vrts and 

 press. 



Method oJ: 



colouring 



cheese. 



