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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 68

Making

Making.

There are many systems in vogue for making cheese, and no system can be absolutely relied on without the cheesemakers' brain and experience. The different kinds and varieties of cheese are produced by certain organisms, and depend on the quantity of acid developed and moulds obtained by special ferments. We only describe the Cheddar system, and the main conditions to be considered are the temperature and consistency of the milk.

What is wanted is a cheese containing a small percentage of moisture, which will cut smooth, solid, and firm, and have a sweet nutty flavour, and every cheese of a uniform character and size. This is the profitable kind of cheese, always saleable. When the market is glutted it is with inferior stock which is rapidly depredating.

What we have to say in the making applies equally to cheese made by an individual fanner, or in a factory; but we say without hesitation that the latter system is best if there is a sufficient supply of milk within a convenient distance, being more economical and more easily supervised.

The cheese-factory should have an outside trough for the whey, a small shed for the boiler, an engine, and a deep cool-well. Just inside the wide door at the end of the building stand the scales, on page 103 the top of which is a large tin can, holding probably 75 gallons. The milk is measured by the pound, and as each team drives up with its cans the milk is emptied into the great can, weighed, and the number of pounds put down opposite the owner's number. A tin ladder or gutter connects the receiving-can with the vats holding 600 gallons each.

There are several stages in the making : First, adding the rennet to the milk; second, the curd thickens so that it can be cut; third, the highest point of heat; fourth, drawing the whey and stirring the curd; fifth, grinding the curd; sixth, mixing in the salt; seventh, hooping and pressing.

We presume, then, that all the necessary implements and utensils are ready, thoroughly scalded, and perfectly sweet and clean, and that good milk is in the vat. The double-lined vats, heated by hot water (not steam) with mechanical stirrers, enable the cheese-maker to keep the process more regular and uniform. The exact quantity of rennet and salt to be used, and exact time and method of dealing with every stage, requires experience, but close attention to our hints will show what to aim for.