206 



THE AGBICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



per 50 gallons of milk in the vat, as al- 

 ready explained, will have to be in- 

 creased. Experience and obseryation 

 soon enable even a beginner to determine 

 the exact quantity of rennet to use, even 

 should the quantity vary a little in 

 strength. The use of too much rennet 

 must be guarded against. Too much 

 rennet is one of the causes of "streaky" 

 and of "bitter" cheese. 



Annatto. 



One ounce of annatto to every 50 

 gallons of milk will be sufficient. For 

 cheese intended for export not more than 

 half-an-ounce of annatto per 50 gallons 

 of milk should be used, for the reason 

 that the English consumer prefers a straw 

 or lightly-coloured cheese. Add the 

 annatto as" soon as the test shows you the 

 milk is ripe enough, and then stir well 

 for five minutes so as to mix it evenly 

 and thoroughly with the milk. 



Cutting the Cued. 

 In about twelve minutes after the ren- 

 net has been added, the milk in the vat 

 will have thickened or curded. A close 

 watch must be kept so as to note the 

 actual time the milk takes to curd. Having 

 a.Tcertained the actual number of min- 

 utes the milk took to curd, the time for 

 cutting the curd will be two and a half 

 times the number of minutes that elapsed 

 from when the rennet was put in until 

 the milk curded. Suppose, for instance, 

 the milk takes twelve minutes to curd, 

 iu 30 minutes afterwards (i.e., twice and 

 a half times twelve) the curd is ready to 

 cut. When everything goes on all right 

 the "cutting" should coniiiicnce from 

 40 to 42 minutes from the time when the 

 rennet was added. 



Here is an illustration showing how the 

 whole operation actually work,-, out. 



Assume that the milk is ri})e at a quar- 

 ter to nine. 



Add annatto at a quarter to nine, and 

 stir the milk well until nine o'clock. 



At nine o'clock add the rennet. 



Stir the milk thoroughly until fivo 

 minutes past nine. ' 



At twelve minutes past nine the milk 

 will be curds. 



Thirty minutes afterwards (two and a 

 half times twelve), i.e., forty-two minutes 

 past nine, the curd will be ready to cut. 



By following this rule no mistake will 

 be made as to the proper time for cutting 

 the curd. Dipping the finger into thd 

 curd, a test adopted by many people, 

 should be avoided. 



How TO Cut the Cukd. 

 Extreme caution is required in cutting 

 the curd, and care must be taken to avoid 

 breaking or bruising it in any 

 way, and the cutting must ^ be 

 cleanly done, leaving no bruised 

 surface. The knives must cut well. 

 There should be no dragging, nor should 

 there be any ragged surface on the curd 

 when cut. First use the horizontal 

 steel knife lengthwise, going from end to 

 end of the vat, then use the vertical 

 knife, going also frorii end to end. After 

 this has been done then run the vertical 

 knife through the curd across the vat, 

 i.e., from side to side The curd should 

 now be all in the size of about half-inch 

 cubes. 



Developing Acidity. 

 Having cut the curd, the next opera- 

 tion is for the development of acidity. 

 Boiling water will now have to be useq 

 in order to raise the temperature of the 

 wliey up to 100 deg. Fahr. Before sur- 

 rounding the vat with hot water it is al- 

 A\avs advisable to i>ass the hand gently, 

 round the sides and bottom of the vat so 

 as to remove any curds that might be 

 sticking there. It will take about 40 

 minutes to raise the temperature of the 

 whey up to 100 deg. The curd mean- 

 wliile must be kept slowly stirred with a 

 rake with the teeth set wide apart so as 

 not to cause any bruising. As the curd 

 gets firmer stir faster, until 100 deg. has 

 l;een gradually reached in the 40 minutes. 

 When 100 deg. has been reached draw the 

 liot water from the vat at once, and allow 

 ihe curd to settle down for about an hour 

 and a half, the vat meanwhile being 

 covered in order to maintain an even 

 temperature. At the expiration of the 

 hour and a half sufficient acidity ought 

 to be developed in the curd to permit of 

 the whey being drawn off. 



