456 Brie, Pont l'Eveque and other Soft Cheese, [sept., 



The cream should be put to drain on a level slate or marble 

 slab or table, and if it has been properly treated only skim 

 milk should exude. 



A form large enough to make up one or two gallons of 

 cream at a time will be 18 ins. long, 14 ins. wide, and 4 ins. 

 deep. The pressing board should be 1 J ins. thick, and made 

 of sycamore or canary wood. The fine cloth is thrown over 

 the form and pressed down to the level of the table, and the 

 cream then poured in to the depth of 1 or ins., covering 

 the whole inner area of the form. The edges of the cloth 

 are now turned over and neatly adjusted so as to cover the 

 whole surface of the cream, the board is placed on, and left 

 for half an hour with a 7-lb. weight on it. Drainage must be 

 gentle at first, or- the pores of the cloth get filled with cream. 

 The cloth should be opened out once or twice during the first 

 hour and the sides scraped down, when the cream should be 

 re-weighted with a 14-lb. weight. If the cream is thick and 

 has been properly cooled and prepared before drainage, it 

 should be ready to mould in three or four hours from the time 

 it was put to drain. It will have drained sufficiently when 

 the curd weighs at the rate of 16 oz. to each pint of cream 

 used. A small tinned-copper mould holding J or \ lb. is used, 

 lined on the inside with a strip of parchment, the mould being 

 then placed in the centre of the muslin or paper wrapper and 

 the cheese filled in with a wooden knife. 



The cheeses are sold fresh or ripened, but it must always 

 be remembered that cheeses made from fresh cream are perish- 

 able, and will not retain a nice sweet flavour for more than 

 two or three days. Those who have a quick sale for their 

 produce may venture to manufacture their cheeses from sweet 

 cream, but if the cheeses are to be kept for any length of \ 

 time, then the cream should be slightly soured before drain- j 

 age. Lactic acid is a preservative, and tends to prolong the I 

 flavour and keeping qualities of most varieties of cheese. 



It is, however, essential that the starter be of right flavour, 

 or the quality of the cheese will suffer. On no account should 

 the cream be allowed to sour naturally, as by the time the j 

 cream has become sour the flavour will have suffered other- 

 wise. Natural souring can be hastened by keeping the cream 

 at a higher temperature, but such a procedure results in a 



