286 Milk and Its Products 
Cheshire.— Cheshire is a -cheese of the ordinary 
type, soft in texture and rather high in flavor. It 
takes its name from the county in England where 
it is most largely made, and is one of the most 
important of English cheeses. Cheshire cheese is 
made from whole milk, night’s and morning’s milk 
mixed together and of some degree of ripeness. In 
many dairies the night’s milk is skimmed in the 
morning before the morning’s milk is added to it, 
and the cream so obtained reserved to be added to 
the cream of the following day at the same time 
that the cream removed the day before is added to 
the milk from which the cream is taken. This is ' 
done in order to secure a certain degree of ripe- 
ness. The milk is set at about 85° F., with enough 
rennet to cause a rather firm coagulation in about 
an hour. It is then cut with a perpendicular knife 
lengthwise of the vat, and allowed to stand ten 
minutes or until a considerable amount of whey is 
separated, and is then cut crosswise and a second 
time lengthwise. It is not ordinarily cut with the 
horizontal knife at all. After cutting, it is care- 
fully stirred with the hand for about an hour, dur- 
ing the latter part of which time heat is applied 
to bring the contents of the vat back again to 
85° F. When the curd is firm enough go that a 
piece thrown 15 to 18 inches in the air and caught 
in the hand does not break it is allowed to settle, 
usually for about half an hour, but before any acid 
develops in the whey the curd is carefully pushed 
to one end of the vat and the whey drawn off. 
