CHAPTER IIICHEESE

Students making cheese in the University cheese factory, Madison, Wis.

Most of the following pages onCheesewere published in 1918 as a separate pamphlet to meet an urgent demand for brief directions along this line during the Food Conservation campaign. The copy has, however, been revised and new material has been addedwith the view of making this chapter more useful to those who desire to study in detail the manufacture of various fancy foreign types of cheese such as Edam, Swiss, Brick, Roquefort, etc., which are now made in this country in constantly increasing quantities.

For more complete directions in cheese making students are referred to “A B C in Cheese Making” by J. H. Monrad, and other technical works.

Cheese of a thousand different kinds is made, varying in properties and appearance from the solid, yet mellow and agreeable Cheddar cheese to the semi-soft, malodorous Limburger, the delicious, soft Neufchatel and Cream cheese, or the sweet Myseost of Norway. In India cheese was made centuries ago; to-day it is produced the world over, in the caves of the Swiss Alps and in the most modern and scientific American cheese factories and laboratories. Of these myriad types we can here describe only a few.

Cheese may be classified into that made with rennet and that made without. Of cheese made with rennet some is what is called hard, some soft.

The English and AmericanCheddar—the commonAmerican cheese—theDutch GoudaandEdam, the SwissGruyere, and the ItalianParmesanare all hard cheese made with rennet. As examples of the soft varieties may be mentioned the FrenchCamembertandBrie,CreamandNeufchatelcheese. In a class by themselves are such cheeses as the FrenchRoquefort, the EnglishStilton, and the ItalianGorgonzola, their peculiar flavors being derived from molds implanted in the curd.

When cheese is made without rennet, the milk is allowed to curdle by natural acidity or it is in some otherway made acid. Among the varieties made by this method the commonCottagecheese is the best known.

For many years imitations of foreign varieties such as Swiss and Limburger have been made in Northern New York and Wisconsin. As a result of the war and the cutting off of foreign cheese imports, the State of Wisconsin has built up a large business in these fancy varieties. New types have lately been added, as theRomano,Riggiano, andMyzethra, which are of Italian and Greek origin. Some of these are made of whole milk, some of partly-skimmed milk, and others of the albumin of the whey.

Let us briefly review the characteristic features in the making of the older types.

For a hundred years or more this famous cheese has been made and marketed at the village of Cheddar near Bristol, England.

In the middle of the nineteenth century a farmer in that neighborhood, Joseph Harding of Marksbury Vale, systematized the manufacture and it was his method that became the model for cheesemaking in America. In this country it was first made in Herkimer County, N.Y., where Harry Burrell not only made cheese for the home market, but also exported to England, and his son, David H. Burrell, at Little Falls later developed the machinery which became the standard for the American and Canadian cheese factories.

The factory system by which cheese was made from milk brought together from several farms, originated near Rome, N.Y., and soon cheesemaking became an important industry throughout Central and NorthernNew York whence it spread into Pennsylvania, Ohio and the West, as well as to Canada. To-day Wisconsin makes more cheese than all the other states together and Canada largely supplies England with Cheddar cheese of excellent quality.

Joseph Harding, who systematized the making of Cheddar cheese in England

David H. Burrell,who introduced laborsaving machinery and supplies in the cheese factories

Jesse Williams, father of the American factory system

The milk is delivered in the morning by the farmers at the factory and is weighed and strained through cheese-cloth into the cheese vat. When it is all in the vat it is warmed to a temperature of 86° F. by letting steam into the water surrounding the bottom and sides of the jacketed vat.

A measuring glass and an accurate thermometer are indispensable

The Marschall rennet test

Ripening.—The milk should be slightly acid, not noticeably sour, yet sufficiently ripened for the proper fermentation to take place in the process that follows. The best cheesemakers regulate the ripening by adding a starter to the sweet milk and allowing the lactic acidbacteria to multiply in the milk until aRennet Test[6]orAcid Test[7]shows that the desired degree of acidity has been reached. The starter may be sour whey or preferably prepared from sweet skim milk or whole milk with a commercial lactic acid culture as described in ChapterIunderFermentsandButtermilk. From 1% to2% starter is usually sufficient. An acidity of .18% to .20% or 2½ degrees on the Rennet Test is usually desired before the rennet is added.

Christian D. A. Hansen, inventor of commercial rennet extract

Blowing up the rennets to dry them

Adding Color and Rennet.[8]—If the cheese is to be colored, from 1 to 2 ounces of liquid cheese color (Annatto dissolved in an alkali) per 1,000 lbs. of milk is now added and thoroughly mixed into the milk which isthen set with rennet. Three ounces of a standard rennet extract to 1,000 lbs. of milk is usually sufficient. Enough should be used so that the milk will show beginning coagulation in 10 to 15 minutes and be ready to cut in 30 to 40 minutes.

The extract should be diluted with ten times as much water and is then poured into the milk under vigorous stirring so as to be thoroughly distributed and incorporated in the whole mass.

Owing to the scarcity of the raw material for rennet extract during the war, pepsin extracted from hogs’ stomachs has been substituted in many factories and is used either in dry form or as a liquid extract instead of rennet extract.

With pepsin as the coagulant it is necessary to ripen the milk somewhat further than if rennet is used, in fact to the danger-point where a little more acidity is apt to do harm and produce a dry and crumbly cheeseand loss of butter-fat in the whey. Most cheesemakers therefore prefer rennet when they can get it.

The rennet having been added, the milk is left undisturbed until a firm curd has been formed. When the curd breaks or splits sharply before the finger pushed slowly through it, it is ready to be “cut.”

Curd knives

Cutting.—Two sets of curd knives are used, each consisting of a metal frame in which tinned steel blades are hung, in one vertically and in the other horizontally. The vertical knife is first carried slowly through the curd lengthwise and crosswise; the horizontal set of blades is then moved carefully through the length of the vat. When the cutting is over, the entire mass should be in cubes about half an inch square.

The whey that begins to separate out should be clear and yellow. Milky whey is a sign that the butter-fat is escaping in it; the curd has been broken up too violently. In curdling, the casein encases the butter-fat and the object of the breaking up of the curd in the vat is to expel the whey but retain the fat in the cheese.

“Cooking” the Curd.—Gentle heat is now applied to raise the temperature gradually to 98° or 100° in the course of about 30 minutes. Meanwhile the small pieces of curd are kept floating in the whey by gentlestirring with a rake and the hands, and are not allowed to pack at the bottom of the vat. The heating is easily regulated by opening the steam valve little by little. Through the “cooking” the pieces of curd shrink to some extent and are hardened so that they will gradually stand livelier stirring without losing butter-fat. After the cooking the curd is left for an hour or so in the whey for a slight acidity to develop and it is then shoved toward the sides of the vat and the whey is drained off. Here again the “Acid Test” may assist in determining when the whey should be drawn.

Cutting the curd

Cheddaring or Matting.—After thorough draining,the curd is packed together in the bottom of the vat or on a “sink” provided with a false bottom covered with cheese-cloth. After fermenting for 10 or 15 minutes it is cut into large pieces which are again packed together for further matting. The exact condition to be attained can be determined only by experience.

“Cheddaring” or “Matting” the curd

A simple test, the “Hot Iron Test,” may, however, help the cheesemaker to judge of this point. A handful of curd squeezed together and touched to a hot steam pipe or an iron rod heated almost red-hot in the fire under the boiler, and slowly withdrawn, will leave threads sticking to the iron. Depending upon thematurity of the curd, the threads will break at a length of from ½ to 2 inches. Usually fermentation is considered sufficient when threads 1½ inches long are formed by this test.

Curd mill

Salting.—The matting is then interrupted by breaking up and salting the curd. This can be done by hand or by a curd-mill which cuts or breaks up the curd and permits a thorough mixing in of the salt. Two or three pounds of salt to one hundred pounds of curd, or the curd from 1,000 lbs. of milk, is the usual ratio.

Pressing.—Stirring and cooling the salted curd to about 80° F. makes it ready for packing into the hoops in which it is to be pressed. The hoop is usually a cylinder of heavy tin with a “follower” of wood on which the pressure is applied. Before the curd is put in, the hoop is lined with cheese-cloth which remains on the cheese, when it is taken out. The press mostly used in the factory is the continuous pressure “gang-press” in which a number of cheeses can be pressed at the same time.

Curing.—After 18 hours’ pressure the cheese is taken out of the press and out of the hoop, weighed and placed on a shelf or table in the curing room. For the first week or ten days it is kept at a temperature of about70°, later the cheese is removed to a cooler room and possibly placed in cold storage. Usually it is paraffined to prevent too much drying and cracking of the rind.

Filling the curd into the hoops

To cure a first-class Cheddar cheese takes from three to six months, but most of the American cheese is made to cure much more quickly and is eaten two to four months old. Indeed, it is generally shipped from the factory eight to ten days old and whatever further curing it gets is in the warehouse of the commissionman or in the grocery store.

The Gang press

Form, Size and Packing.—The old style American cheese is cylindrical, about 14 inches in diameter, andvarying in depth to weigh between 60 and 80 pounds. Various other forms are now often made, square and long or in fancy shapes, such as a ball or a pineapple. Aside from such freaks, which have never become very popular, other deviations from the large, standard, American Cheddar, are also made to a considerable extent. People who have visited the beautiful National Dairy Shows held in turn in Chicago, Springfield, Mass., and Columbus, O., the National Milk and Dairy Farm Expositions of New York City, the Ontario Provincial Fair held each year at Toronto, or the annual State Fairs in New York, Wisconsin, Michigan and other cheesemaking sections will have in mind first the prominent exhibits of the regular Cheddar, showing a uniformity in texture, form and taste that is really remarkable. But one will also admire the variety of otherforms. There are theFlatsorTwins, packed two in a box and weighing together the same as oneAmerican; theYoung Americaspacked four in a box; theLonghornsof six to eight inches in diameter; others made like a loaf of bread and creased so that a pound or two may be cut off fairly accurately, etc.

Taking the cheese out of the press

TheGiant Cheeses, weighing five to six tons, occasionally exhibited and cut up at World Fairs and on similar occasions are, like the pineapple cheese, a curiosity rather than an industrial product.

One of the best forms, in the writer’s opinion, is the small 5-lb. cheese, proportioned exactly like the largeAmerican. This makes a suitable size for an average family, the members of which have learned to appreciate a good cheese. If it is made smaller, too much is lost in the rind; if larger it gets too old before it can be consumed by one family.

Curing room

The larger cheeses are usually packed in neat, snug-fitting elm-wood boxes, with thin “Scale Boards” on the top and bottom of the cheese, the smaller ones in paraffined pressed pulp or pasteboard boxes.

Cleaning the Vats and Utensils.—Like every other place where milk and its products are handled, the cheese factory must be kept scrupulously clean. Vats and utensils should be rinsed first with cold or lukewarm water or whey, then scrubbed with boiling hot waterand if necessary with soda, soap, or washing powder. The surroundings should be kept neat and attractive, and the cheesemaker must see that the transportation cans are kept clean by the farmers and the milk delivered in good condition.

Cheese box

Yield.—The yield is around 10% of the milk. To make a pound of fresh cheese takes from nine to eleven pounds of milk. In curing, a part of the weight is lost by evaporation, but this loss is reduced to a minimum by paraffining.

In some localities an increased yield is obtained by washing the curd and making it absorb all the water it can hold. The process is not commendable and while it may sell to some extent, in certain markets where a soft, fresh cheese is liked, “washed” or “soaked” curd cheese can never compare favorably in quality with a well-made, firm Cheddar cheese that is mellowed down by long-time curing to a consistency so it will fairly melt in your mouth.

Composition.—The American cheese contains almost all the casein and the butter-fat of the milk, besides such portions of the milk-albumin, milk-sugar, and mineral matter as are held in the water or whey which is retained in the cheese. In round figures average American cheese contains equal parts of casein, butter-fat and water, 30 to 35% of each. In order to protect the honest maker and the consumer and prevent “soaking” of the curd to an extent that may beconsidered fraudulent, the dairy laws of the State of New York limit the contents of water permissible to 40% and 42% respectively for certain classes of cheese.

Qualities.—A good Cheddar cheese should be mellow, yet solid, without holes, and of an agreeable taste, neither sharp nor bitter. Cheese can be made of skim milk, but it is hardly palatable. In the fall of the year, when the average milk is rich in butter-fat, 1% or 2% butter-fat may be taken from the milk and the resulting partly-skimmed milk will still make a fairly good cheese, hardly distinguishable from full cream cheese. Under the laws of the State of New York it must, however, be marked “Skim Milk Cheese.”

From time to time attempts have been made to make Cheddar cheese from pasteurized milk. If the milk is heated to 145° only, and held for 30 minutes at such temperature, its property to form a firm curd with rennet is not destroyed and it will make a fine cheese, but if it is pasteurized at a higher temperature it will not curdle firmly until it is ripened or otherwise brought back to the condition required for satisfactory action of the rennet ferment. Thorough ripening with a pure culture starter will do it, or an addition of muriatic acid will accomplish the same in a shorter time, but care must be taken not to use too much, which would make the cheese dry and crumbly. Dr. J. L. Sammis and A. T. Bruhn of the Wisconsin Dairy School worked out the problem and systematized a process which is described in Bulletin 165 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture and by which it is claimed a first-class cheese can be made regularly from thoroughly pasteurized milk.

Making Cheddar Cheese on the Farm

American outfit for farm cheese making

Plain wooden vat and curd mill

It takes quite a little experience to make a good Cheddar cheese and, unless one has the time and opportunity to study it and make it an every-day practice, it is not as a rule advisable to attempt making Cheddar cheese in the home from the milk of one or a few cows.

The amateur will usually find it easier to make Neufchatel or Cream or Cottage cheese for home use or for the home market.

Danish kettle and cheese vat

If Cheddar cheese is to be made regularly it is best to get an outfit consisting of a small boiler and a jacketedvat, although cheese may be made in a plain wooden tub or any other convenient vessel. The double bottomed vat generally used in American as well as in Danish dairies facilitates both the heating of the milk before setting and the “cooking” of the curd in the whey after cutting. Either low pressure steam, or—better—water heated by steam, is introduced in the space between the outer, wooden bottom and the inner, tinned steel or copper bottom. If it is cool the milk should be warmed to 86° F. In the summer it may be warm enough as it comes in, fresh from the cow. If not, heat it by steam or by setting it in a “shot-gun” can in another vessel of hot water, stirring frequently, until the thermometer shows 86°. It may be well to add a little buttermilk or sour whey from the precedingday, or a pure culture starter made with Buttermilk Tablets, not to exceed 1% or 2%.

Cutting the curd

If it is desired to make colored cheese add a teaspoonful of liquid cheese color, or ½ cheese color tablet dissolved in warm water, to 100 pounds of milk, more or less according to season and the shade of color desired in the cheese.

Next add the rennet. Where cheese is made from less than 500 lbs. of milk Rennet Tablets are handy, one tablet to 80 or 100 lbs. For less than 50 lbs. of milk, Junket Tablets may be used, one to a gallon. Dissolve the tablet, or tablets, or fraction of a tablet, as the case may be, incoldwater and stir the solution well into the milk, making sure of thorough mixing. Let stand covered for half an hour until a firm curd is formed. Cut or break the curd very carefully with a big knife or spoon or home-made fork with wires across the prongs,imitating as far as possible the operation with curd knives in the factory.

Taking the temperature of the milk in a shot-gun can

Curd fork

Mold or “Hoop”

“Cook” the curd as in factory cheesemaking. If steam is not available, allow the curd to settle and dip off some of the whey which is then heated and poured back on the curd so as to raise the temperature of the whole mass about 2 degrees. Repeat this several times, gradually raising the temperature to 100°, a few degrees at a time.

Keep the curd gently stirred up and floating in the whey and do not allow it to lie on the bottom of thevat long enough to pack firmly together, stirring once in a while until by smell and taste (if not also by acid or hot iron tests) it appears to be sufficiently fermented for the whey to be drawn, a condition that can only be learned by experience. This will be about two or three hours from the time the rennet is added.

Diagram of lever press

Combined screw and lever press

Draw the whey and press more out of the curd with the hands. Let the curd mat and break it up alternately several times; finally crumble and pulverize it and keep it stirred with the hands, adding salt at the rate of three to four ounces to the curd from 100 lbs. of milk and continuing the stirring until the curd is cooled down to below 80°, when it should be packed into the hoop and put to press. This salting and cooling may take another hour. The hoop may be made of wood or heavy tin of any size desired, with a loose follower of wood. The sides and bottom should be perforatedto allow the whey to escape. Or it may be a cylinder without top or bottom, placed on a corrugated piece of board. Line the hoop with cheese-cloth before putting in the curd.

Upright factory and dairy cheese press

For pressing, a home-made lever-press, as outlined in the diagram, may be made of a plank or bar, one end of which (C), is stuck under a piece of a board nailed on the wall while at the other end a weight (K) is applied which may be moved in and out to regulate the pressure. The hoop is placed under the plank at the fulcrum (K1) near the wall. If a compound lever-press or a screw-press is available it is better. It is important that the pressure is applied straight so as to make the cheese even and not one side lower than the other.Begin with light pressure and increase it gradually every hour until at night the full pressure is applied. After an hour take the cheese out and turn it in the hoop, then return it to the press and at night apply full pressure. The next morning take it out and weigh it and place it on the shelf to cure in a room of moderate temperature, turning it every day. After a couple of weeks it may be removed to a cool cellar and rubbed with grease. In two to three months it should be sufficiently matured for consumption.

OTHER TYPES OF HARD CHEESE MADE WITH RENNET

A variety of domestic and foreign cheese made at the dairy school of the University of Wisconsin

In the manufacture of the Dutch Gouda, the Danish Export, and other similar types, the “cooking” and matting of the curd, characteristic of the English and American Cheddar, are more or less omitted. Otherwise the process and the result are not greatly different. They are all “hard” or solid cheese of the same class, though there are hundreds of varieties in different localities, each with some peculiarity of its own.

Gouda cheese

Gouda Cheese.—TheGouda, like theDanish Exportcheese, is made from whole or partly-skimmed milk which is set with rennet at 90° F. and is coagulated, ready for cutting, in fifteen to twenty minutes. The curd is broken with the “lyre,” so called, a frame on which piano wires are suspended. The curd is but slightly “cooked” and the whey is drawn while still sweet. After being pressed with the hands in the vat to squeeze out the whey the curd, still quite warm, is put into wooden molds and worked and squeezed in them with the hands for half an hour to eliminate more whey, when the mold is placed in a regular press for 12 to 18 hours. To salt it the cheese is placed in a strong brine where it remains for several days. It is then put on the shelf in the curing room where it is turned and rubbed daily and in four to six weeks it is marketed. The cheese is about 10 inches in diameter by 4 to 5 inches high.

The Lyre

Edam Cheese.—The ball-shaped redEdamis also made in Holland by a similar method to that of the Gouda.

Fresh milk is set at from 90° to 93° F. in summer and up to 97° in winter,—colored to a rather high yellow with Annatto. Add sufficient rennet to coagulate the milk in 8 to 15 minutes. Cut curd carefully with the “lyre” and break with fork into very fine pieces, as small peas. Leave to settle for 3 to 4 minutes, putting cover on the vat if the temperature in the room isbelow 60°. When settled, the curd is gently pushed into a heap which takes 5 to 6 minutes and the whey is removed with a dipper. Weight is applied for 5 minutes and the tub or vat is tipped so the whey will drain off while the curd is held back with the dipper. This pressing is repeated twice more for 4 and 3 minutes respectively.

Curing room in a Gouda cheese factory

The curd should now be elastic and firm and show a temperature, in winter of at least 83°, in summer at most 90°. If necessary the temperature is regulated by pouring hot whey (not exceeding 104°) or cold water over the curd.

The mold is then placed in the vat and two handfulsof curd put in which is squeezed and worked thoroughly with the hands. More curd is added and worked in the same way and this is repeated until the mold is full with a large top on, which is pressed with the hands for 4 or 5 minutes, turning the cheese 3 or 4 times and opening the drain holes if plugged up. Some makers sprinkle a teaspoonful of fine salt in the bottom of the mold, but in warm weather it is better to work in a quarter of an ounce of salt. This work must be done quickly so the curd will not cool.

Mold for Edam cheese

When thus formed the cheese is dipped for 1 or 2 minutes in fresh whey heated to 126° (in winter 131°) and pressed with the hands in the mold for another 2 minutes when it is carefully wiped off by rolling on a fine cloth to remove the last drop of whey. The cheese is then wrapped in a fine cloth, placed in the mold and put to press, in the Spring for 5 to 7 hours, later in the year for 12 hours. The cloth is now removed and the cheese is put in a larger mold which is placed in a water-tight salting box provided with a cover and a drain-hole in one end. The first day a pinch of salt is put on the top of the cheese and the next the whole cheese is rolled in damp salt, turned and put back in the mold, a liberal quantity of salt being placed on the top. This is repeated every day until the cheese from being soft and elastic becomes hard which as a rule takes 8 to 10 days for a 4 lb. and 12 days for a 10-12 lb. cheese. Finally the cheese is left a few hours in the brine collected in the box, washed, wiped and placed on the shelf in the curing room.

The curing room should be light and well ventilated, never above 72° nor below 45°. Windows must not be opened to admit dry wind or moist air. If too dry the cheese will crack and if too moist it will be covered with deleterious yellowish red fungi. The cheese is turned daily the first month, later every other day or twice a week. When 24 to 30 days old the cheese is soaked for one hour in water of 68 to 77°, washed with a brush, dried for 20 to 40 minutes in the sun and returned to the shelf. This is repeated two weeks later and then the cheese is painted with linseed oil and left on the shelf until shortly before shipping when it is scraped with a sharp knife and painted according to the demand of the particular market for which it is prepared; yellowish with Annatto for England and Spain, red with Turnsole for other countries. When dry it is rubbed with a little butter and red color.

Swiss Cheese.—The Swiss Gruyere or Emmenthal also belongs to this class. It is characterized by its form and size, being large, round and flat, weighing 100 to 140 lbs. or more, and by the large holes which are wanted in Swiss, but not tolerated in American or Dutch cheese. It was formerly supposed that first-class Swiss cheese could only be made in the Alps, but very good imitations have long been made in Northern New York and in Wisconsin. Besides in the usual large round form, the same as the genuine imported Emmenthaler, American Swiss or “Switzer” is also made inblocks, six inches square and twenty inches long, weighing 25 to 30 lbs.

Until lately Swiss cheese has been made in the old-fashioned way, the factory and tools being of the simplest description. The milk was heated in a coppercauldron hanging on a crane, enabling the cheesemaker to swing it on or off the fireplace. Nowadays the kettle is usually jacketed and heated with steam. The round form is still preferred to the American cheese vat, however, as it adapts itself better to the peculiar method of handling the curd.

Swiss cheese

The milk is set with rennet at a temperature of 90° F. in summer and 95° in winter, sufficient rennet being used to make a firm curd in thirty to forty minutes. But very little color is added. The curd is cut with a long, sharp wooden knife, the “cheese sword,” first one way into sheets, then, as soon as the cuts stand clear,beginning to expel the whey, crossways, into vertical sticks, two inches square.

Scoop

Cheese sword

Cutting the curd with the scoop

Tools for stirring the curd

No horizontal knife is used, but a few minutes after the last vertical cutting the curd is further broken by the “scoop,” a wooden spoon or ladle about eight inches long, thirteen inches wide, one and one-half inches deep, and provided with a short handle. Standing at one side of the kettle, the cheesemaker scoops off a layer from the top and, drawing the scoop towards himself, drops the pieces of curd close to the side of the kettle. This movement is repeated, at first slowly, then faster, and soon the whole mass of curd is moving, the pieces cut off going down along the side of the kettle and the rest of the sticks sliding upward along the other side, to be attacked by the scoop as soon asthey come to the top. All the curd having been cut into square pieces, it is further broken by the stirrer, a stick at the lower end of which a few cross sticks or wings of brass wire are fixed, the whole mass being kept in constant motion.

Cooking the Curd.—After breaking up the curd to the size of peas or beans, the stirring is discontinued for about ten minutes, when it is begun again and the kettle is turned over the fire, or steam is applied, to heat the curd to 140° under constant stirring which is continued for 45 to 60 minutes after this temperature has been reached. The condition of the curd is judged by squeezing a handful and noticing its elasticity and consistency. It is important to stop stirring at the right moment. More whey is expelled in making Swiss cheese than for Cheddar cheese.

The cooking and agitating having been finished, the mass, which now consists of grains the size of wheat, is once more stirred up with such force as to make it form a funnel at the center and it is then left at rest for five to ten minutes.

The curd, forming a rather solid cake at the bottom of the kettle, is now lifted out without being broken. One end of a large piece of cloth is folded around a flexible rod. Bending over the kettle the maker takes hold of both ends of the rod and gathering the other end of the cloth between his teeth, pushes the rod down along the farther side of the kettle, letting it follow the bottom towards himself until the whole mass of curd is gathered in the cloth, when it is lifted out of the kettle and placed in the hoop on the press table. The hoop can be enlarged or diminished to take care of a varying amount of curd which is put into it in the same solidcake as formed in the kettle without being broken. Pressure is applied, at first, gently, later heavier and after half an hour the cheese is taken out, turned and provided with fresh bandage, put back into press and left till the next day.

In Swiss cheese making the curd is lifted out of the vat with a strong cloth

Curing and Salting.—The cheese is first placed in a curing room above ground and heated in winter. After a few weeks it is removed to the cellar. Sometimes three to five cheese are piled one on the top of the other for a few days with a few handfuls of salt between them. The salting proper is done by rubbing and brushing dry salt and the brine formed from same intothe cheese,—altogether 4 to 5 lbs. of salt to 100 lbs. of cheese. Every day it is rubbed with a dry rag and the cheese is turned and salted on the other side until the salt is thoroughly incorporated.

Swiss cheese press

The cheese is cured for at least 100 days in the factory and is usually stored for another three to six months by the dealer before it is ready for the consumer.

Roquefort.—The FrenchRoquefortis inoculated with a mold from stale bread which spreads through the cheese and produces the peculiar flavor of this type. It is made from sheep’s milk and was formerly cured in cool subterranean caverns, but now in elaborate curing houses. In this country imitation Roquefort is made of cow’s milk and cured in cold storage.

It should be remembered, however, that sheep’s milk is very rich in fat and that a rich Roquefort that will compare favorably with the genuine cannot be made from cow’s milk without an addition of cream if sheep’sor goat’s milk is not available. In France a small addition of cow’s milk to the sheep’s milk—not to exceed 10%—is often used.

Around Roquefort a milk ewe produces on an average 135 lbs. of milk a year, which makes up to 35 lbs. of cheese.

Milking the ewes at Roquefort, France (G. Ellbrecht)

The milk is set at about 80° with rennet sufficient to coagulate it in 1½ to 2 hours. To cut or break and stir the curd, tools similar to those used in the manufacture of Dutch cheese are employed and stirring is continued until the pieces of curd are about the size of peas when the whey is dipped off and the curd is further broken with the hand and placed on a cloth to drain. In fifteen minutes it is ready to be put into thehoops which are either of glazed stoneware or perforated tin, 8 inches in diameter by 4 in. high.

Ground stale, moldy bread is sprinkled in the curd as it is put into the hoop, at the rate of 1 part of bread to 10,000 parts of curd. This moldy bread is prepared from 2 parts of wheat flour and 1 part of rye flour leavened with sour yeast and vinegar and baked hard. The loaf is placed in a dark, moist cellar to mold. In six weeks it is penetrated with mold when it is dried at 86° and pulverized, forming the powder used for inoculation into the cheese-curd.

When the hoops are filled they are placed in large wooden boxes at a temperature of 65° to 70° for the whey to drain off. The first few days the cheese is turned three times a day, later once a day, and when five days old it is brought into the curing room where it remains until it is firm enough to be shipped to the large cold storage establishments, where it is taken care of until ready for the general market.

In the “caves” a high degree of moisture, a low temperature—40° to 50°—and pure air are essential conditions.

The cheese is firstsaltedby being rubbed repeatedly with salt on all sides. The slime forming on the surface is brushed or scraped off so as not to prevent the admission of air, which is essential to the curing. In order to further facilitate the penetration with air the cheese is nowprickedwith numerous needles by means of a machine and placed on the shelf in the cave where the proper moisture and temperature are maintained.

Various fermentations are now developing, one after another, regulated by scraping, ventilation, etc., until in six to twelve weeks the cheese is ready for the marketand is packed for shipment in paper or in tinfoil and in wicker baskets or airtight boxes, according to destination,—for home consumption or for export.

Curing room in a Roquefort cheese factory (G. Ellbrecht)

Parmesan Cheeseis an Italian cheese made mostly in the Valley of the River Po and named from the City of Parma. It is produced from partly-skimmed milk and is allowed to become hard and dry, being used grated with macaroni.

The milk is set with rennet at a comparatively high temperature, about 95° F., and when it is firmly curdled it is broken up and stirred rather vigorously, which makes the curd fine and dry. Color is now added—powderedSaffron—at the rate of 0.5 gram to 100 kg. milk. The curd is cooked slowly under constant stirringto a temperature up towards 100° when the whey should be perceptibly acid.

The curd is then allowed to settle in the round kettle and when fairly firm it is lifted up in a cloth, the same as in Swiss cheesemaking. The mold is also much the same as the Swiss and the curd is but slightly pressed. In the course of the day the cheese is turned once or twice and put into fresh cloth. The next day it is put into the curing room when it is rubbed with salt. In a few months the cheese is cured and is then scraped and polished with linseed oil. Sometimes it is kept in storage two or three years in a dark room at a temperature of 63° F. The composition averages: 32% water, 21% fat, 41% nitrogenous matters and 6% ash.

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