TEE AQBIGULTURAL JOUBNAL. 



207 



Testing the Cubd eoe Acidity. 

 The only sure test for showing when 

 the acidity is coming is the hot-iron one. 

 Oct a piece ol half-inch iron and make 

 it nearly, but not quite, red hot. Take 

 a handful of the curd, squeeze the whey 

 out by compressing it gently, and then 

 apply the hot iron to it. If when lifting 

 the iron up from the curd it draws out 

 hne hairy threads about one-eighth of an 

 inch long it is time to draw the whey offi 

 and remove the curd to the cooler. If, 

 liowe\er, the fine threads are not seen' 

 to be drawn up by the iron the curd must 

 remain a little longer in the whey in 

 order to reach the proper stage of acidity. 



In the Coolek. 

 When the whey has been run off re;* 

 move the curd to the cooler. Let it re- 

 main without being disturbed for about 

 ten minutes in order to give it time to 

 '•mat." After "matting" it is cut into 

 squares for convenient handling, and also 

 to permit of further drainage of any 

 whey. Turn the curd every quarter of 

 an hour for about an hour to an hour and 

 a half. When the curd is placed in the 

 cooler it is most important that the 

 cooler, except when handling the curd, 

 be covered with a sheet or piece of strong 

 ''duck,'" in order to maintain an even 

 temperature and further develop the 

 acidity. 



After being from an hour to an hour 

 and a half in the cooler, again apply the 

 hot iron test for acidity, when if the fine 

 threads this time draw out fully three- 

 quarters of an inch long, it will be time 

 to put the curd through the curd cutter. 

 If the fine threads do not come as de- 

 scribed, turn the curd again, keep the 

 cooler covered, and wait a little longer. 

 Developing the proper acidity and allow- 

 ing the gases to escape are the secrets of 

 success. If everything goes on all right 

 the curd should not require to be in the 

 cooler for more than from an hour and 

 a quarter to an hour and a half, but at 

 the very outside not more than an hour 

 and 40 minutes. 



The Curd Cutter. 

 The old curd mills that wero used 

 teen and twenty years ago are out of 



date. They used to bruise, tear, and 

 grind the eurd down too fine, thereby al- 

 lowing the richness to escape, which re- 

 tluces the quality of the cheese. The 

 new style of curd cutter cuts the curd as 

 clean as you would cut chaff, instead of 

 bruising it down as the old-fashioned 

 curd mills did. The curd is only puij 

 through the cutter once, and it comes 

 out in clean cut strips, each about 3 

 inches long by about half-an-inch in dia- 

 meter. 



Salting. 



After putting the curd through the 

 cutting machine it must be kept stirred 

 and turned over now and again to pre- 

 vent "matting," which operation also cir- 

 culates the air through it, and cools it 

 down to about 73 deg., at which tempera- 

 ture it is ready for salting. A.dd 1 ft. 

 of salt for every 50 gallons milk that 

 were in the vat. After mixing the salt 

 thoroughly with the curd, give the curd 

 another ten to fifteen minutes to allow 

 the salt to properly dissolve before putt- 

 ing the curd into the "hoops" and press- 

 ing. 



Cheese Presses. 



Where large quantities of cheese are 

 made, such as in factories and on large 

 dairy farms, the "gang" press should be 

 used, but for small dairymen making only- 

 one or two cheeses a day, the ordinary 

 screw press will do, as it saves the outlay 

 for a "gang." 



The "hoops" being made of galvanised 

 iron and in four pieces, are one of the 

 greatest improvements in modern cheese- 

 making, as they entirely dispense with 

 all the hother that used to be attached to 

 the proper adjusting of lids and trimm- 

 ing the edges of the cheese. 



Be careful not to press the eurd hard 

 the first half-hour, or the richness of the 

 cheese will be lost. A sudden heavy pres- 

 sure at first will also form a skin on the 

 cheese which will prevent a free escape 

 of whey, and result in a "streaky" or 

 "mottled" cheese. Increase the pressure 

 gradually after the lapse of half-nn-bour. 

 From fifteen to twenty hours, according, 

 to the size of the cheese, will be long 

 enough for it to remain in the press. 



