British Dairy Farming. 
163 
should not be too warm, otherwise too much lactic acid is 
developed, which ultimately spoils the peculiar flavour of the 
cheese. The climate of Italy practically prevents cheese-making 
except in the two spring months, and for the same reason in 
two months during autumn, although there are now some large 
factors, one or two of whom I have visited, who have constructed 
an elaborate system of cellarage, which enables them to store 
and ripen the stracchino during almost any month of the year. 
Just as excessive warmth is deleterious to the curd, so is 
excessive cold, by reason of its preventing a proper drainage 
of the serum, for unless the operation of manufacture is con- 
ducted sufficiently near to the regulation time, there is little 
hope of the cheese being of high quality. When the curd of 
the morning is ready for removal, it is placed, together with the 
curd of the evening, upon an inclined wooden table, in which 
are a number of small fluted grooves to assist in carrying off 
the whe}'. Some rye-straw is then laid across the grooves, and 
the cheese-mould placed upon it. The Gorgonzola-mould is 
of wood, preferably beech. It is of course round, but open at 
the sides, and can be made larger or smaller in diameter at 
will. A cord is attached to one end, so that in lessening the 
diameter the mould can be fastened. In some cases two moulds 
are used, one being fixed upon the top of the other. In this 
case the uppermost mould is removed, when the curd has sunk 
within the lower mould, but in the ordinary way a single 
mould of 27 to 30 centimetres, or 11 to 12 inches, high is used. 
When ready for filling, the mould is lined with a similar cloth 
to that which has been placed in the pails, and then with a flat 
broad spoon or slice, in which are a number of holes, the curd 
is placed within the moulds in Stilton fashion, layer by layer, 
every slice being extremely thin, certainly not more than half 
an inch in thickness. There is, however, this difference in the 
Gorgonzola system, that the curd of the morning is placed at 
the bottom, at the sides, and at the top ; the rest of the cheese 
being composed of alternate layers of morning and evening 
curd. It is between these layers that the fungus or green mould 
commences its growth, although there are instances in which 
makers encourage it by the introduction of moulded bread- 
crumbs, in imitation of the makers of the Roquefort cheese in 
France. Where a single mould is used, the maker places the 
curd as high as he possibly can, and then covers it with the 
ends of the cloth, which are very carefully folded ; this opera- 
tion being performed with the same exquisite neatness that 
characterizes the work of the Edam cheese-makers in Holland, 
whom I have always admired for their skill in preventing 
cloth-marks upon their round cheeses. Where a second mould 
U 2 
