52 
Comjmilioii of Cheese. 
somewhat close condition. I3y heating the curd in the whey to 
130° F., I find it gets so soft that it runs like toasted cheese, and 
becomes quite hard on cooling. The limits ot temperature be- 
tween which curd can be improved or deteriorated in texture 
are therefore not very wide. The exact temperature to be adopted 
depends uj)on the description of cheese that is wanted^ — a lower 
range, c. (j. 72^ to 75^, being desirable when a thin cheese is 
made ; whilst for thick cheese, such as Cheddar, it should vary 
from SO ' to 84^, 80^ being best adapted to warm weather, and 
a little increase in the heat desirable in the cold season. After a 
portion of the whey has been separated, it is advisable to scald 
the curd and to raise the temperature of the whole contents of 
the cheese-tub to 95° or 100^, but certainly not higher. I have 
seen much injury done to cheese by using too high a temperature 
in the making. 
Secondly, apart from this influence of temperature, cheeses are 
often deteriorated by the frequently imperfect separation of the 
whey from the curd ; by hurrying on too much the operation of 
breaking ; and by too great an anxiety to get the curd vatted. 
The whey requires time to drain off properly, and hence the 
Somersetshire plan is a good one — to expose the curd for some 
time to the air, after it has been sufficiently broken and been 
gathered again and cut in slices of moderate size. A great deal 
of whey runs off, and the curd, moreover, is cooled, and runs less 
risk of heating too much after it leaves the presses. 
When the whey has been ill-separated from the curd, no 
amount of pressure will squeeze out the excess of whey, which 
then causes the cheese to heave and blister, and imparts to it a 
somewhat sweet and at the same time strong taste. This taste is 
always found in an ill-shaped cheese, which bulges out at the 
sides, the interior of which will be found to be full of cavities, 
and far from uniform in texture. Many cheeses imported from 
America are evidently spoiled in this way, for they are often 
full of holes, have a strong smell, and contain too much moisture 
— sure indications that the whey was not properly separated. 
The sweet taste is given to the cheese by part of the sugar of 
milk, of which a good deal is found in whey ; another portion of 
this, on entering into fermentation, forms, amongst other pro- 
ducts, carbonic-acid gas, which, in its endeavour to escape, 
heaves up the semi-solid curd, and causes it to blister, producing 
the numerous apertures of considerable size which are found in 
badly-made cheese. If the cheese is coloured with annatto, the 
excess of whey at the same time causes a partial separation of the 
colouring matter, so that more colour collects in some parts than 
in others, and the cheese assumes that unequal condition in 
