DUNLOP CHEESE. 57 



to the morning's meal already in the tub, and raising 

 the whole when added to an uniform temperature of 

 from 86° to 88". Milk, as it comes from the cow, 

 is about 96°. After stirring in the 'rennet,' the milk 

 takes about thirty minutes — seldom less, sometimes 

 more — to properly ' thicken ' or coagulate. . . . 

 The breaking of the thickened fluid comes next in 

 course. This is effected, generally, by passing the 

 arm and outspread palm softly and steadily in all 

 directions through the coagulated milk after a short 

 time allowed for the curd to subside, — most assisting 

 by pressing it gently down with their palms, — the 

 whey is lifted off with a suitable vessel, and poured 

 through a sieve into some receptacle for the use of 

 the pigs. The massed curd left in the ' boy en ' is 

 then cut into about four-inch cubes, Avhich are tied 

 into a wet, coarse cloth, spread within a square 

 wooden box, with perforated bottom and sides 

 (termed a ' dreeper ' or ' drainer ') , and subjected to 

 a pressure of about twenty pounds or so. The curd 

 undergoes this pi-ocess four to six times, with length- 

 ening intervals between, and each succeeding time 

 being cut into still smaller pieces, Avith increased 

 pressure, till the whey has been as completely ex- 

 pressed as the ' dreeper ' is capable of. . . . The 

 broad lump of solid curd ... is first cut into four- 

 inch cubes or so, and which are then put through the 

 curd-mill, which fractures or tears, rather than cuts 

 the bits into fragments. 



"Due allowance of salt having been mixed, in the 

 pi'oportion of 1 to 48, a fit-sized 'chessat' (abbrevi- 



4 



