MANAGEMENT OF CHEESE DAIRIES, AND MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE. 
203 
while the curd is too young, the effect of the rennet 
will be checked, and decomposition will not be com¬ 
plete, and will result in a leaky cheese. 
This often happens when steamers are used in 
small dairies. Heat may be raised in scalding to 
keep pace with rennet; if rennet is quick, heat may 
be raised quick, if slow, heat must be raised slow 
and held longer. Scalding heat may be carried 
from 96° to 104°, according to the cheese and temp¬ 
erature to which the cheese is exposed. During 
the process-of scalding, the whey and curd should 
be kept in motion, to prevent the curd from settling 
and sticking together, as separating it is attended 
with great labor and waste, from friction. 
When the curd is cooked, so that it feels elastic 
and will squeak when chewed with the front teeth, 
it is separated from the whey to receive salt. 
This is done by dipping it into a strainer over a 
basket, or sink, or drained off and salted in the tub. 
Either may be done without adhering in lumps, by 
stirring it in a small portion of whey, till cooled to 
94 p . This is the most critical part of the process, 
where cheese makers are most likely to err, as the 
portion of salt retJLmed in cheese after pressing, 
will be in proportion to the capably off fUirrL to r*>_ I 
ceive it when aided. At a particular period and 
temper of curd, when draining off whey, it will ab¬ 
sorb salt freely, and after being thoroughly mixed 
and packed up for a few minutes while warm, it 
will be evenly shrunk and cleansed by salt and 
whey, and will press out freely ) but if the curd is 
not well cooked , or cooled too fast in draining off 
whey, it will acquire a degree of stubborness, pre¬ 
vent the absorbtion of salt to shrink and cleanse, 
and no amount of pressure will be sufficient to drive 
out the fluid. 
If curd is not worked even, the larger lumps 
will not be cooked enough, or the lesser too much 
(like large leaves of bread and small biscuit baked 
together in one oven) ; hence the cheese is left im¬ 
pregnated with the elements of fermentation, which 
increase on being exposed to heat, till the cheese is 
sufficiently swollen, or huffed, for each constituent 
to occupy a separate space in the same shell, or 
rind. The fluids first attract together by affinity, 
forming small cavities in which they remain unaf¬ 
fected by salt., become fetid, and generate an un¬ 
pleasant odor, which is fair proof of the quality of 
rennet used. Curd should be salted warm, it is 
then most absorbent, and thoroughly cooled before 
putting it to press, to suppress the combined, ac¬ 
tion of heat and rennet. The quantity of salt re¬ 
quired, varies with the condition of the curd, size 
of cheese, amount of heat to which the cheese is 
exposed in curing, and market for which it is de¬ 
signed. 
A well-worked cheese, from fifty to one hundred 
pounds, requires one pound of refined salt to forty 
pounds of curd, to remain in the cheese after it is 
pressed and exposed to a temperature of from sev¬ 
enty to eighty degrees. This may be varied from 
two to four pounds to the hundred, according to the 
texture of cheese required—small cheese requiring 
less and large cheese more. 
A degree of moisture is necessary in cheese for a 
malleable texture, but this should not be from 
animal fluids retained in the curd. A highly-salted 
cheese, immediately exposed to high temperature, 
becomes sour, hard, dry, and crumbling; the same 
exposed to a cool, damp atmosphere retains suffi¬ 
cient moisture to be soft, yet solid. A cheese light 
salted, in a high temperature, will cure quick, become 
porous, huffy, and stale. Curd , from hay milk , re¬ 
quires much less salt than that from grass or 
grain feed, as it is poorer and will retain salt, like 
lean meats. The richer the milk, the more salt is 
required to control the animal properties, and the 
less absorbent the curd , the pores being filled with 
the finer buttery particles. 
More salt is required in hot weather, also, to 
overrule the combined action of rennet and heat, 
neither of which will be effective alone. When curd 
is ready to press, it is important to dispossess these 
decomposing agents. The gastric juice, or coagula¬ 
tor, is a fluid , and works off with the animal fluids 
in whey, and the only way to get rid of it, is to 
work the curd down fine and solid , and work the 
whey all out. Then cool the curd thoroughly be¬ 
fore pressing, and the cheese will be solid and keep 
its place. But if the whey is not all out, the de¬ 
composer is yet on hand, continues its action, aided 
by heat, till an equilibrium of chemical action is de¬ 
stroyed in the cheese , and the fluid properties leak 
out m tetiu wu y and oil, leaving it a rank and 
worthless article. In short, the. method of 
using salt must be arrived at by a close observation 
as to its chemical combination with the constituent 
properties at different ages of the cheese with differ¬ 
ent sizes, heat, dampness, &c. This, although an 
essential point, has not been sufficiently determined 
by chemical analysis, to be reliable. 
Pressing. —When curd is properly tempered for 
pressing, a cotton or linen cloth is spread over the 
hoop, the curd is put in and pressed with from three 
to twelve tons’ weight, turned twice in eight and 
forty hours, into clean dry cloth. The press should 
be faithful and follow down as the curd yields 
(when young), to press out whey before a rind is 
formed to prevent its escape. There is no danger 
of too much pressure, after the first ten minutes. 
The press, hoops, cloths, &c., should be cleaned 
with lye often, to keep rind from cracking. The 
cloth is taken from the cheese when it is taken 
from the hoop. The cheese is set on a table for a 
few hours, till dry enough to absorb oil, and then 
painted with annotta, mixed in strong lye (from 
common ashes), kept in a jar for ready use. This 
toughens the rind so that it will not require much j 
grease after the first coat, to make a smooth rind,/ 
if rubbed often with the hand, moistened with oil. / 
The paint will fade to a rich butter color, which 
is as high a color as is desirable. A firm rind maV 
be formed upon cheese, when young, by a careful 
exposure to drying air, frequent rubbing with th 
hand, and no more oil than will readily incorporat 
with the rind. If more grease is used than will b 
taken up, it will sooner or later flake off, leaving 
the cheese scabby, without rind, exposed to cracks 
flies, mould, &c. Oil, for greasing cheese, is on 
tained from cream skimmed from whey, after stan^ 
ing 24 hours; it is churned, till separation take 
place, like butter, then melted over a slow fire bV 
is turned to oil. A preparation of bees’ wa v 
g to I, mixed with oil, will make a rind e( j 
to flies. It is most desirable that chep~ ; ’ • s 
for foreign markets, should be in a A°P onion 
