54 
Cheese Factories in Derbyshire. 
setting up a fermentation, or an acidity, which greatly deteriorates 
the flavour. Fine curd insures a more perfect separation of 
the whey. The quality may be slightly reduced, but the flavour 
and keeping properties are greatly improved. In England 
some makers advocate the grinding of the curd : this is quite 
unnecessary, if not actually prejudicial to the quality of the 
cheese. The blades of the knives used for cutting the curd should 
not be more than one quarter of an inch apart. When the curd 
has been cut it should be allowed to stand for a few minutes for the 
whey to separate ; the heat is then turned on slowly and gradually 
until the temperature is raised to about 98° to 104°, which 
must be regulated by the condition of the milk and state of the 
weather. If the milk is old or has already begun to turn sour, 
the temperature should be raised as quickly as possible. As soon 
as the acid in the whey has become sufficiently developed to be 
perceptible to the taste the whey is run off. The exact degree of 
acidity is a matter of vital importance, and at present can only 
be approximated, the maker being entirely guided by the senses 
of taste and smell. A simple and inexpensive instrument might 
be constructed that would show the exact acidity : such an instru- 
ment would be of great value in the hands of even the most 
experienced maker. The system of heating the milk in the vats, 
as is generally practised in America, and now in use in the Der- 
byshire factories, calls loudly for improvement. The great desi- 
deratum is to have the whole of the milk in the vat as near the 
same degree of temperature as possible. With the present arrange- 
ments this cannot be accomplished ; but at a small additional out- 
lay the difficulty can be overcome. In America what is claimed 
as an infallible test of acidity is the application of a hot iron to a 
lump of curd. The iron should only be searing hot ; the whey is 
pressed with the hand from a piece of curd, which is held on the hot 
iron until it adheres, when the iron is pulled gently away from 
the curd : if the curd is raw it will break short away from the 
iron ; as the acid becomes developed the curd will pull out into 
long threads, often 6 or 8 inches in length before it breaks ; it is 
claimed that the proper degree of acidity is that at which the 
curd shows the finest and most numerous threads. It is possible 
to construct a simple instrument that will show the acidity with 
the same unerring certainty and precision that a thermometer 
does the temperature. When the exact degree has been attained 
the short leg of a syphon is introduced into the vat, and the whey 
is run off" into a pipe which conveys it direct to the whey-cistern. 
The curd is then transferred into what is called the dry vat : this 
vat is 16 feet long, 3 feet 10 inches wide inside, and 1 foot deep, 
having a wooden rack or perforated false bottom, over which a 
cloth-strainer is spread to facilitate the thorough draining of the 
