Manufacture of Cheddar Cheese. 



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measure, acidimeter, and record book, etc., etc. ; these may 

 also be kept in the dairy. 



The cheese room should be above the dairy, and there 

 should be a lift from one to the other, so that the cheeses 

 can easily be removed from the latter. The floor of the cheese 

 room should be of wood ; it is most undesirable to have 

 a cheese- ripening room with a stone floor, or one just above 

 the ground. Freedom from dampness, uniform tempera- 

 ture, and ventilation are the chief necessities of a cheese- 

 ripening room. At the same time no draught should ever 

 play on a cheese while it is ripening, hence some precaution 

 is necessary as to how the ventilation is obtained. The 

 cheeses should be placed upon shelves and not on the floor 

 of the room. It must not be forgotten that the top of the 

 room will be warmer than the bottom, consequently the 

 newest made cheese should be placed on the highest shelves. 

 There should be in the cheese room a maximum and minimum 

 thermometer, also a hygrometer. In cold weather the 

 temperature must be kept constant by means of a stove. 



Assuming that the conditions previously referred to are 

 obtained, it will be necessary for the cheese-maker to possess 

 a knowledge of their manipulation. The object that the 

 practical cheese-maker has in view, whether consciously or 

 unconsciously, in subjecting the milk and curd to the many 

 operations requisite to the manufacture of a cheese, is to 

 obtain the curd, with the least possible loss of fat, in such a 

 condition that it will ripen into a good cheese. The tests 

 applied by the maker to ensure this result are, it seems, 

 usually empirical, and depend upon the senses of touch, 

 taste, and smell. Hence the cause of failure to produce a 

 first-class cheese is ascribed mainly to the operator not 

 possessing naturally, or as the result of education or 

 experience, the requisite delicacy or degree of sensitiveness 

 in touch and taste and smell. For instance, some people 

 can judge by the sense of taste with a fair degree of 

 accuracy whether the curd is fit for grinding, while others 

 seem utterly unable to do so. On the other hand, some 

 are never able to form a correct judgment, bv the sense of 

 touch, of the condition of the curd when in scald, and 



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