"Green cheese is made by steeping ever night, in a proper quantity of
milk, two parts of sage with one of marigold leaves, and a little
parsley, after being bruised, and then mixing the curd of the milk, thus
_greened_, as it is called, with the curd of the white milk. These may
be mixed irregularly or fancifully, according to the pleasure of the
operator. The management in other respects is the same as for common
cheese."
* * * * *
Mr. Colman says, "In conversation with one of the largest wholesale
cheesemongers and provision-dealers in the country, he suggested that
there were two great faults of the American cheese, which somewhat
prejudiced its sale in the English market. He is a person in whose
character and experience entire confidence may be placed.
"The first fault was the softness of the rind. It often cracked, and the
cheese became spoiled from that circumstance.
"The second fault is the acridness, or peculiar, smart, bitter taste
often found in American cheese. He thought this might be due, in part,
to some improper preparation or use of the rennet, and, in part, to some
kind of feed which the cows found in the pastures.
"The rind may be made of any desired hardness, if the cheese be taken
from the press, and allowed to remain in brine, so strong that it will
take up no more salt, for four or five hours. There must be great care,
however, not to keep it too long in the brine.
"The calf from which the rennet is to be taken should not be allowed to
suck on the day on which it is killed. The office of the rennet, or
stomach of the calf, is, to supply the gastric juice by which the
curdling of the milk is effected. If it has recently performed that
office, it will have become, to a degree, exhausted of its strength. Too
much rennet should not be applied. Dairymaids, in general, are anxious
to have the curd 'come soon,' and so apply an excessive quantity, to
which he thinks much of the acrid taste of the cheese is owing. Only so
much should be used as will produce the effect in about fifty minutes.
For the reason above given, the rennet should not, he says, be washed in
water when taken from the calf, as it exhausts its strength, but be
simply salted.
"When any cream is taken from the milk to be made into butter, the
buttermilk should be returned to the milk of which the cheese is to be
made. The greatest care should be taken in separating the whey from the
cheese. When the pressing or handling is too severe, the whey that runs
from the curd will appear of a white color. This is owing to its
carrying off with it the small creamy particles of the cheese, which
are, in fact, the richest part of it. After the curd is cut or broken,
therefore, and not squeezed with the hand, and all the whey is allowed
to separate from it that can be easily removed, the curd should be taken
out of the tub with the greatest care, and laid upon a coarse cloth
attached to a frame like a sieve, and there suffered to drain until it
becomes quite dry and mealy, before being put into the press. The object
of pressing should be, not to express the whey, but to consolidate the
cheese. There should be no aim to make whey butter. All the butter
extracted from the whey is so much of the proper richness taken from the
cheese."