66 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 
take about 8-Iocc. of the ordinary rennet extract to every 
100 pounds of milk to bring the curd to the right consistency 
in 144-2 hours. The necessary amount of rennet is poured 
into a glass of water and then mixed thoroughly with the milk. 
The milk is now left to stand until it has coagulated to the 
proper consistency. 
It is impossible to describe any test which will show when 
the curd is firm enough. This can only be shown by prac- 
tical demonstration and after a little practice the maker can 
generally tell just when the curd is ready to cut. The curd of 
Camembert cheese is much firmer than that of Cheddar or 
Swiss cheese. 
After the curd has been cut it is stirred gently once or twice 
with the dipper to separate the columns and hasten the sep- 
aration of the whey. Then it is allowed to stand for about 
15 minutes to make it a little firmer. The whey separates 
out at the surface and the bulk of it is dipped off. 
If, however, the curd is quite firm, less of the loose whey 
is dipped off. The contents of the vat are now stirred to 
insure uniformity, otherwise part of the cheese would be 
softer than the rest. 
Dipping. The next operation is the dipping. This is done 
with a ladle which just fits into the forms. Place the drain- 
ing table near the vat, and upon it arrange the boards cov- 
ered with mats and each holding nine of the forms. To each 
of these forms a dipperful of curd is added, taking care to 
bring the dipper inside the forms in order to prevent splashing 
and breaking of the curd. 
After one dipperful is placed in each form the operation 
is repeated, another dipperful of curd being placed in each 
form in the same order as before, the dipping continuing 
until the forms are all filled to the top. 
The cheese is now allowed to drain without any artificial 
pressure for four or five hours. At the end of this time it 
has shrunk to about half.the original volume and is ready for 
inoculation of molds and turning. 
After the curd has all been dipped into the hoops, the latter 
are piled up, together with the boards, one upon the other. 
This is done partly to save space and partly to cover up the 
cheese and thus keep off any dirt or flies which otherwise 
might fall upon them. The very top of the pile is then cov- 
ered with an extra board (Fig. 24). 
