20:2 
MANAGEMENT OF CHEESE DAIRIES, AND MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE. 
In the first place, milk is a very sensitive fluid, 
and liable to be varied in quality by impure water, 
by damp an 1 unventilated stables, change of diet, 
excess of feeding, excitement of temper, irregular 
milking, salting, &c., which destroy its suscepti¬ 
bility to produce like practice. 
2d. Cheese, when pressed, and exposed in a 
curing process , is no less sensitive, and equally 
liable to be varied in texture and flavor, by size of 
cheese, exposure to excess of heat, bad air, &c., 
the effect of which I shall hereafter notice. There 
are, however, leading principles which form the 
basis of operations, and should be closely adhered 
to in all cases, in the process of manufacturing 
cheese. Salt, rennet, heat, and pressure are the 
principal agents used in converting milk into 
cheese, the flavor and texture of which is deter¬ 
mined by their proportionate use. Their propor¬ 
tion is varied by different dairymen, according to 
their notions of propriety, as best adapted to their 
fixtures, experience, &c. Hence arise the great 
inequalities in dairies, in the same neighborhood, 
and even in the same dairy rooms may be found as 
many different qualities of cheese as there are of 
fruit in an apple orchard. Some of these are ma¬ 
tured at an early period, while others mature later, 
and are unsuited to the same market. 
Much of the cheese being contracted for before 
it is made (in the early part of the season), both 
buyer and maker are liable to be disappointed in 
the cheese being suited to the market for which it 
is designed, destroying the confidence of purchasers, 
and injurious to the best interests of the dairymen. 
It is therefore necessary, that makers should have 
sufficient knowledge of the science to determine 
the result of their practice, which cannot be learned 
from verbal instruction. It is by practical experi¬ 
ence and close obseiwation only , that the maker can 
learn to adapt his practice to the frequent and ex¬ 
treme changes to which our climate is subject, va¬ 
rying the quality of the milk, and materially affect¬ 
ing cheese in process of curing. 
The evening’s and morning’s milk is commonly 
used to make one-day’s cheese. The evening’s 
milk is strained into a tub, or pans, and cooled to 
prevent souring. This is done by running water 
through a vessel set in the milk, or setting pails 
filled with cold water into the tub, and stirring till 
cool; but little cream will rise over night. 
The cream is taken from the evening’s milk, and 
kept till the evening’s and morning’s milk are put 
together, and warmed to receive the rennet. This 
is often done by heating a part of evening’s milk 
to a temperature that will warm the whole mass. 
Both are objectionable, because the natural affinity 
wh ij: :s necessary to preserve between the constituent 
parts a perfect coherence is destroyed, by a portion 
of the milk being overheated. It is better to warm 
the whole mass in a manner that will produce an 
equilibrium of heat, which is best done by placing 
the vessel, containing the milk, within a larger ves¬ 
sel, with two inches under the bottom, and one 
inch of space at the sides, into which space water 
may be put to cool the milk, and into which steam 
may be let to warm the milk, and scald the curd. 
The more water surrounding the milk, the more 
Uniform will be the heat. The cream, if added 
(which is generally done), is best incorporated -with 
the milk, by putting it with twice its quantity of 
warm, new milk from the cow, and add warm water 
to raise its temperature to ninety-eight degrees. 
Stir it till perfectly limpid, add cream to milk, and 
then put in rennet, that the same stirring may mix 
both at once with the mass. If milk is curdled 
beIow T eighty-four degrees, the cream is more liable 
to work off with the whey. An extreme of heat 
will have a like effect. 
Curdling heat is varied with temperature of the 
air, or the liability of the milk to cool after adding 
1 rennet. A fine cloth spread over the tub while the 
milk is curdling will prevent the surface from be¬ 
ing cooled by circulation of air. No jarring of the 
milk , by walking upon a springy floor, or otherwise, 
should be allowed while milk is curdling, as it pre¬ 
vents a perfect coherence. 
Rennet. —Various opinions exist as to the best 
mode of saving rennet, and that is generally adopted 
which is supposed wall curdle the most milk. I 
have no objection to any mode that will preserve 
its strength and flavor, so that it may be smelt 
and tasted with good relish, when put into the 
milk. Any composition not thus kept. 1 deem un¬ 
fit for use, as the coagulator is an essential agent 
in cheesing the curd, and sure to impart its own 
flavor. The rennet never should be taken from 
the calf, till the excrement shows the animal 
to be in perfect health. It should be emptied of its 
contents, salted, and dried, without scraping or rins¬ 
ing, and kept dry for one year, when it will be fit 
for use. It should not be allowed to gather damp¬ 
ness, for its strength will evaporate. To prepare it 
for use, into ten gallons of wrnter (blood warm), put 
ten rennets, churn or rub them often for 24 hours, 
then rub and press them to get the strength, 
stretch, salt, and dry them as before. They will 
gain strength for a second use, and may be used 
when the weather will admit of soaking them to 
get the full strength. Make the liquor as salt as 
can be made, strain and settle it, separate it from 
sediment (if any), and it is fit for use. Six lemons, 
two ounces of cloves, two ounces of cinnamon, 
and two ounces of common sage are sometimes 
added to the liquor to preserve its flavor and quicken 
its action. If kept cool, in a stone jar, it will 
keep sweet any length of time desired, and a uni¬ 
form strength can be secured while it lasts. Stir 
it before dipping off to set milk, take of it enough 
to curdle milk firm in 40 minutes. Squeeze or rub 
through a rag annotta enough to make the curd a 
cream color, and stir it in with the rennet. When 
milk is curdled so as to appear like a solid, it is 
divided into small particles, to aid the separation of 
the whey from the curd. This is often too speedily 
done , to facilitate the work, but at a sacrifice of 
quality and quantity. 
The three indispensable agents , heat, rennet , and 
pressure , rightly applied, must keep pace with each 
other in effect. The two former operate to sub¬ 
divide, the latter to aid, cohesion, by bringing the 
particles of a sameness closer in contact. This 
should be skillfully and studiously applied in a mild 
way, according to the capacity of the curd, to re¬ 
ceive it. The less friction in working the curd the 
less waste. If heat is raised too fast, or commenced 
