168 CHEESE MAKING. 
323. Curing Process. 
A plug from a green cheese will be very harsh to the feel, 
and the plug will bend like rubber. In the course of about two 
weeks the harshness begins to disappear, and the cheese will 
break down in the fingers, and mold like wax, though it is some- 
what softer and the plug more elastic than Cheddar. 
Brick cheese is usually shipped when it is a month old. 
If cured slowly, it is better at two months old, but being softer 
it is not as long lived as Cheddar. 
324. How the Cheese is Shipped. 
When brick cheese is ready to ship, it is wrapped in a good 
quality of Manilla paper and packed in rectangular boxes that 
are twenty inches wide, five inches deep, and three feet long, 
the same size as a Limburger box and one inch shallower than 
a block Swiss box. Each box will hold twenty to twenty-five 
cheese, and the net weight of the cheese in the box will be one 
hundred and five to one hundred and twenty pounds. The box 
weighs about fifteen pounds more. 
325. Fancy Styles. 
It has been pointed out that the market calls for odd sizes 
and shapes of Cheddar at higher prices than for the large Ched- 
dar form. The same thing is true of brick cheese. A round 
cheese called a Munster is made in the same way as brick, ex- 
cepting that the molds are round, and made of tin with holes 
punched in the sides for the whey to more readily drain out. 
Being round they are always laid on the flat ends to keep them 
in shape. The salting and curing is the same as for brick, as is 
also the method of shipping. 
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XVII. 
1. Why is brick cheese called by that name? 2. What are 
the characteristics of brick cheese? 3. What quality of milk is 
required for brick cheese? 4. How often should milk be re- 
ceived? 5. What can be said about the use of a lactic ferment 
starter in milk for brick cheese? 6. How much rennet should 
be used to set milk for brick cheese? 7. In what kind of a milk 
receptacle is brick cheese made? 8. How does the temperature, 
