XV.MAKING CHEESE.
FIRST, a dry, airy, thoroughly ventilated room must be provided, of even and moderate temperature. It should be used for a cheese-room only, and access denied, if possible, to all but the operator. It is useless to attempt the work if flies cannot be excluded; and, when open to all, that is impossible. The windows should be kept open infair weather, but blinds always closed, to avoid currents of air, except to admit what light is needed while the work is being done. Frames covered with wire or mosquito net can be fitted into the windows, and a door of the same material hung inside, shutting closely to exclude the flies, yet giving admittance to as much air and light as are needed. If wind and sun have too free access to a cheese-room, the cheese cannot ripen properly.
Cheese-tubs, cheese-knives (a long wooden knife for cutting the curd), cheese-ladder, hoops, cheese-boards, orfollowers, cheese-basket, bowl, and cheese-cloths made of strong linen, but woven very loosely, and the cheese-press,—these are the necessary utensils.
The months from May to September are good cheese months; some keep up the work through October; but the cheese is more difficult to cure, and will not be as good.
If night and morning milk is to be used, strain the night’s milk into pans, and set in a cool place. In the morning take off all the cream; heat the skimmed milk to 95° or 100°, pour it into the cheese-tub with the morning’s milk, and stir in the cream; add the rennet, and mix all well together with the long wooden cheese-knife or a wooden spoon; cover the tub with a close-fitting cover, and spread over that a thick cheese-blanket, to keep in the heat while the curd is forming. The milk, when drawn from the cows, is from 85° to 90°, and until the curd is well set, it should not lose more than from five to seven degrees of its natural heat. See that the cows are driven to and from their pasture gently; for, if they get overheated, the milk will rise above the natural heat, and must be cooled off before the rennet is stirred in; as, if the milk, either from this cause or any other, is over 90° when it is set, the cheese will be spongy and of very poor flavor, or no flavor at all. If the milk is too cold the curd will be so tender it will never become firm, but will bulge out at theside, and will not keep. Be sure and ascertain the temperature of the milk always, before adding rennet. If the milk is toocold, heat some milk and stir in, until the whole rises to the proper temperature; if toowarm, wait till it cools sufficiently before adding the rennet. The quantity of rennet to be used depends so much on the quality of the article, that experience only can teach the exact amount to use. If good and strong, two ounces is quite enough for sixty quarts of milk. The curd will have set firmly in an hour or an hour and a half, when it must be cut gently, first round the sides of the tub, then across in lines, reaching the long wooden cheese-knife to the bottom of the tub, each time about an inch from the last; then cut in the opposite direction, forming squares, to give the whey an opportunity to rise above the curd. Let it settle a few minutes. Then throw over the tub a large squarecheese-cloth, or strainer, and after the curd has settled and the whey risen to the top, sink the strainer into it and dip off the whey as closely as it can be done. The strainer is then spread over a squaresplintcheese-basket, woven very loose and open, and the basket set on the cheese-ladder, which is laid across another tub. The curd must now be cut into small pieces gently, and put into the strainer. The corners of the cloth are then gathered up and twisted tightly together, and a flat, smooth stone, kept for that purpose, of about twelve or fifteen pounds’ weight, laid upon it, to press the whey from the curd. It should stand an hour; and, while draining, such things as will be no more needed to finish the work for the day can be washed, scalded, and set out to dry; for, of course, hot water is always ready.
The curd when ready is removed to a large wooden cheese-bowl, cut in slices, and a pail of the whey heated to 120° or 130° is poured over it. Great judgment and care are required here, as, if scalded too much, it makes the cheesehard; if not enough, the cheese will spread and crack. The hot whey should be left on till the curd will “squeak”—as the children used to call it—when bitten; then returned again to the strainer and basket, to drain free of the hot whey. This done, cut it up again fine; put in the salt, and thoroughly stir it in. The taste is the best criterion to judge of the quantity,—about six ounces to every fifteen pounds of curd is a fair estimate. A cheese-cloth must now be laid over the hoop; the curd dipped into it, pressed down, but heaped up in the centre; the corners of the cloth folded smoothly over, and the first cheese-board, with holes all through it, put on; one a size smaller laid over that; and the cheese thus prepared is ready to be put into the press, and subjected to a pressure of from forty to sixty pounds, according to the size of the cheese. It should remain in the press two or three hours. If the whey, which is now pressed out, is of a slightly greenish color, the curd has been properly prepared; but if it is white, like milk, the curd was formed imperfectly, and the cheese will not be of the first quality.
When the cheese has remained in the press for about two hours, some advise to take it from the hoop and let it stand an hour in hot whey, to harden the skin. We do not like the idea, and fancy much fine flavor would be lost from the cheese.
We should simply put it into a dry cheese-cloth and return it to the press, to remain till next morning. In changing the cloth, if any rind presses over the top of the hoop, cut it off smoothly and turn that side of the cheese down. Leave it now until the next morning in the same cloth; only it is well to turn it over in the press several times in the course of the day.
When taken from the press the last time, a piece of cheap muslin should be soaked in hot butter and fitted over thetop and bottom, and a band, also wet in butter, bound tight round the cheese and sewed to the edges of the top and bottom covers. The cheese is then placed on the shelf. It will need rubbing with butter every day for some weeks, and must be turned over every day for several months, washing the shelf clean each time, and changing the place so that the shelf may get well dried.
If the whey is saved, in twenty-four hours a thick creamy substance will rise, which, if skimmed off and churned, forms butter very quickly, and is excellent to dress the cheese with,—a great economy, and better for the cheese than table butter. Put some of the butter into a tin dish kept for that purpose; throw in a small red pepper, and put it over the fire till boiling hot, then set aside for dressing, leaving the pepper in.
These directions give the general idea of making cheese. There are many varieties of cheese, which it would be very interesting to notice, pointing out in what the difference consists; but we cannot appropriate more space to this matter.