556 



DAIRY. 



Scalding 



Troilac 



cheese. 



TJairy. In autumn when the weather got cool and moist, the 



curd was scalded, " to make tlie cheese come quicker to 

 hand," (that is, sooner saleable,") and to prevent a white 

 woolly coat from rising. It is done thus : If the cheese 

 be made from new milk, scalding water (boiling water 

 with a sm&H quantity of cold whey mixed with it,) is 

 p <. ft over the whole surface of the curd as it lies at 

 tiie bottom of the cheese tub. *•— If from skimmed or 

 other inferior milk, the autsides only are scalded, after 

 the curd io in the vat, by first pouring the scalding wa- 

 ter on . tte - \ and then, turning the cheesling, pouring 

 it or. the other." " Supposing," says Mr Marshall, " the 

 cheesling to be made on Monday morning at seven 

 o'clock, it is between eight and nine taken out of the 

 vat, the cloth washed, and immediately placed in the 

 press again. On Monday evening it is salted, and, if 

 wanted, pared ; put into a dry cloth, and replaced in 

 the press. On Tuesday morning, it is bare-vatted, or 

 the cloth changed ; the cheesling in either case being 

 turned, and again put into the press. On Tuesday even- 

 ing it is again turned ; and on Wednesday morning fi- 

 nally taken out of the vat and press." 



As soon as the cheeses become firm enough to be 

 ton of the handled with safety, he causes them to be well brushed 

 n with a hard brush frequently dipped in whey; and 

 when nearly dr) r , rubbed over with a cloth on which 

 fresh butter had been spread. He has them thus wash- 

 ed, scraped, rubbed, and turned once a-day for some 

 weeks, " till they acquire a rich golden polish, and the 

 blue coat begin to shew itself." This will be regulated 

 not only by the age of the cheese, but by its quality, 

 and the state of the weather, therefore no certain num- 

 ber of cleanings can be fixed ; and the blue coat will ap- 

 pear perhaps before one month, perhaps not till the end 

 of two or even three. The cheeses, however, ought to 

 be regularly scraped and rubbed until they be perfectly 

 smooth, and the rind mellowed with butter, whenever 

 it gets dry and harsh. The blue coat is that desirable 

 appearance of a cheese, which is at once a criterion of 

 its goodness, and of the skilfulness of the dairymaid. 



The Italian cheese called Parmesan, so highly prized, 

 is, according to Mr Benjamin Pryce and Mr Arthur 

 Young, who observed the operation on the spot, made 

 entirely of skimmed milk, and the process conducted as 

 follows. Two meals, the evening's after it had stood 

 sixteen hours, and the morning's about six, were put 

 together. At ten o'clock, this milk, consisting of about 

 264 English quarts, was suspended in a large copper, 

 by a crane over a slow wooden fire. When an hour 

 had nearly elapsed, the milk, having been frequently 

 stirred, was about 82 s of Fahrenheit, and the heat of 

 the atmosphere at the time was 70°. The cazaro, or 

 dairyman, took a ball of rennet like a large walnut, 

 and squeezed it through a cloth into the milk, which was 

 all the while stirred. Fie then removed the copper from 

 off the fire by means of the crane, and a few minutes 

 past twelve the rennet had operated. The coagulated 

 milk was freely stirred up, and allowed to stand for a 

 little till the whey should in some degree separate. At 

 tfte, the cazaro ordered his sotto-cazavo to work the 

 curd, which he did with a stick properly armed witll 

 etOSS wires. The curd being reduced to a small grain, 

 and left to subside till the whey was nearlv clear on the 

 surface ; part of this was taken out, and the copper 

 again turned over the fire. It was now brought to a 

 heat somewhat below boiling, and a quarter of an ounce 



Method of 

 making 

 Farrr^an 

 cheese. 



of saffron added, to impart a slight degree of colour. AH Baity, 

 this while, the curd was stirred with a wooden instru- s * - S"***» 

 ment, to prevent singeing or burning ; and the cazaro 

 from time to time examined it betwixt liis finger and 

 his thumb, to mark the exact moment when it should 

 have attained sufficient firmness and solidity. The heat 

 was 124 1 of Fahrenheit. It is, however, often raised 

 considerably higher. 



When the small grains of curd felt as firm as the ca- 

 zaro wished, (which was in about an hour and a half,) 

 the copper was taken from the fire, and the curd allow- 

 ed to subside. The cazaro then drew off about three- 

 fourths of the whey ; poured round the bottom of the 

 copper three or four gallons of cold water, to cool it so 

 far as that he might be able to handle the curd, and slid 

 below this a cloth, by which he brought it up and pla- 

 ced it in a tub to clear. When drained, it was put into 

 a hoop, and about half a hundred weight laid upon it 

 for an hour. The cloth was then removed, and the 

 cheese placed again in the hoop, and put upon a shelf. 



Their practice is to allow it to remain there for two 

 days, at the end of which period it is sprinkled all over 

 with salt: and this is repeated every two days, for thirty 

 days successively if it be summer, and forty if it be win- 

 ter ; after which no farther attention is requisite. Du- 

 ring the process of salting, they place two cheeses on 

 one another, in which situation they are supposed to 

 take the salt better than when single. They are after- 

 wards scraped clean, turned in the magazine once every 

 day, and rubbed with Unseed oil, to preserve them from 

 insects. They are never sold till they have been kept 

 six months. 



After the cheese has been made as before described, Parmesan 

 the morning's butter-milk is added to the whey, a fresh ot <-we'» 

 coagulation produced by means of an acid, and a sort of rr * llli - 

 cheese made called Masehopino. At Rochefort in Lan- 

 guedoc, they make Parmesan of ewe's milk; and in 

 other places it is usual to add a certain portion of ewe's 

 or goat's milk to that of the cow. 



Stilton cheese is made by putting the night's cream Stilrom 

 into the morning's new milk along with the rennet. t ' lecse ' 

 When the curd is come, it is not broken as in making 

 other cheese, but taken o\it whole and put into a sieve 

 to drain gradually. Whilst this is going on, it is gently 

 pressed ; and having become firm and dry, is put into 

 a vat, and kept on a dry board. These cheeses are ex- 

 ceedingly rich and valuable. They are called the Par- 

 mesan of England, and weigh from six to twelve pounds. 

 Their most usual name is cream cheeses. The manu- 

 facture of them is confined almost exclusively to Leices- 

 tershire, though not entirely so. 



Many persons in Huntingdonshire, Rutland, and 

 Northamptonshire, make cheeses of the same sort, and 

 sell them for Stilton cheeses. Stilton, every body 

 knows, is only a place of sale, no cheeses being made 

 within many miles of it. Some make them in a net 

 like a cabbage-net, and give them the form of an acorn. 

 They are not sufficiently mellowed for use, till two years 

 of age ; and will not sell unless decayed, blue, and moist. 

 In order to hasten their maturity, it is a common trick 

 to place them in buckets, and cover these over with 

 horse dung. Wine added to the curd brings on a rapid 

 advance of ripeness in cheese. As the thinner cream 

 cheeses are named Stilton, so there is a thicker sort cal- to lnntifU , 

 led Cottenham cheese. Of late, attempts have been j? fe nch 

 made to follow a French fashion regarding these cheeses, cheeses. 



* The curd will bo more equally affected by the scalding fluid by throwing that when broken into the fluid, than by pouring the 

 fluid upon the curd. Scalding is done with the lluid from 108° to 110° and 192°. 



