PREPARING RENNET.
The process of preparing rennet for use is very simple, and so generally
understood that we need not more than give a few hints on the subject.
In putting rennets to soak, care should be taken not to allow any
tainted ones to get into the batch. When they are packed in salt, it is
not difficult to make a selection. If the poor rennet does not smell, it
will be pretty likely to be discolored and unhealthful looking, instead
of having a whitish, wholesome appearance. All rennets thus discolored
should be thrown away as worse than useless--as positively injurious. If
the rennets are dried, it may not be so easy to detect the poor ones
before putting them to soak. After soaking, their quality will be quite
apparent; but much of their injurious effect may be avoided by promptly
rejecting them without rubbing. It is generally, and we believe
correctly, understood that diseased or tainted rennets produce both
huffy and bad-keeping cheese, by the introduction of decayed animal
substances. It certainly cannot improve the quality of the cheese to mix
with it the broth of carrion.
Clear whey is the common and best liquid for soaking rennets. Water was
once and is now sometimes used, but it needs to be very soft and pure,
and is improved by boiling. We have never tried water, but it is
asserted by those who have used it for soaking rennets that a batch
prepared with it will not keep sweet as long as one prepared with whey,
but that boiling the water keeps it sweet longer than it will keep if
not boiled. We think the purer the whey the better, and therefore
prefer that which first separates from the curd after setting. Some are
not particular, and some prefer the salt whey that runs from the
presses. There is a saving of salt in this, but we think this liquid
cannot be as good to introduce into milk as that containing less cheesy
and buttery particles. Boiling the whey and skimming it, afterward
allowing it to cool and settle, that the sediment may also be excluded,
is said to be a great improvement, and we can easily believe this to be
true. It is not only free from impurities, but it forms a sharp acid
that acts readily upon the rennets and extracts more completely the
pepsin, gastric juice, or whatever it may be that coagulates the milk.
It is said that quite a saving in rennets can be effected by using
scalded whey for soaking them.
Twenty or twenty-five prime rennets put into a half barrel of whey will
make a good preparation. It can be made stronger, of course, by the
addition of more rennets, or pouring in a less amount of whey; but it is
questionable if the entire strength can be extracted by using a less
quantity of whey in proportion to the number of rennets. They need to be
rubbed at least three times, each time in a new batch of whey. The
second time the preparation will be found about as strong as the first.
The third rubbing and rinsing may be in fresh whey to be used for
soaking a new batch of rennets. We like to have two tubs or jars for
soaking the rennets, one for the first and the other for the second
rubbing, alternately. After rubbing the second time, put the rennets in
a sack made of strainer cloth, to keep them separate, and soak them with
the batch intended for the next second rubbing. In this way the strength
of the preparation from the batch may be kept equal to that from the
first. Rub the third time, and rinse in fresh whey, as before indicated,
when the strength will be found pretty completely extracted. If dried
rennets are used, it will be necessary to add salt to the whey when the
batch is put to soak. Every time new whey is added, more salt will be
required. Where the rennets are packed in salt there will usually be
salt enough for the first soaking adhering to them; if not, it may be
increased in quantity by a few handfuls of that loose in the barrel in
which they have been packed. As the rennets will float on the whey, they
should be thoroughly stirred up as often as night and morning, and a
little salt sprinkled over those left on the top.
We prefer stone jars, both for soaking rennets and to keep the prepared
rennet in, because they are so much more easily kept sweet than wooden
tubs can be. Of all things, we detest a stinking rennet tub or jar.
Frequent scalding, when emptied, is necessary. When the preparation is
kept in a tub, it will be advantageous to rub a little salt, each
morning, on the sides of the tub left exposed to the air, after setting
the milk, by the lowering of the liquid. By all means, do anything and
everything that may be necessary to keep the rennet tubs or jars from
stinking so badly that the stench will nearly suffocate one on
uncovering them. A sweet rennet tub is the evidence of important
qualities in a cheese-maker--care and cleanliness.
Of course, there are various ways of managing, as regards quantity,
convenience's sake, and so on, but we do not believe the principles
involved in the process of selecting and preparing rennets for use, as
we have given it, can be violated or neglected without loss in some
manner. The importance of properly-prepared rennet, and of keeping it
sweet and clean, cannot be too highly estimated. "Bad luck" in
cheese-making might not infrequently be traced to the rennet tub; while
"good luck" may be as often traced to the same source. Look out for your
rennets and take care of your rennet-tubs or jars. They may make or mar
your fortune.