HEAT.
One of the most important elements in cheese-making is heat; but we do
not believe the importance of its proper regulation is sufficiently
understood by our cheese-makers. We are aware that cheese can be made
without the use of artificial heat. It is not such an article, however,
as would meet with a ready sale, or be likely to increase the
consumptive demand for cheese. A good-keeping, mild and nutty-flavored
cheese cannot readily be produced, if at all, with a temperature lower
than 96°; nor can a rich, buttery article be made with a temperature
over 102°. We consider 6° the widest allowable range of heat, and think
98° to 100°, or full blood-heat, the best temperature.
Evenness and steadiness of temperature are two important points. That
apparatus is best which heats the milk throughout the vat the most
evenly--leaves it the freest from hot places and cold places, at the
sides, ends, or on the bottom. A perfect apparatus would raise the
temperature of every particle of milk at the same time and at the same
rate; and retain this perfectly even heat at the desired point until the
cooking is completed.
The difficulty, with most or all heating apparatus, is to raise the heat
of the entire mass to the required temperature, without submitting some
particles to a greater degree of heat than is necessary, or heating them
in advance of the rest, to be stirred in and partially cooled again.
We believe that an even cook or scald is of the utmost importance, and
that everything that can be should be done to secure that end. If
thoroughly accomplished, with sweet milk to begin with, we have no fears
as to the richness, fine flavor and good keeping qualities of the
cheese. There is no other thing, in our opinion, which will go so far
toward securing these three desirable qualities.
Another thing, as before indicated, we consider of great importance in
securing a thorough cooking and proper separation of the whey from the
curd. We refer to steadiness of temperature. It seems to us a great
mistake, when the temperature is once up, to not keep it there, without
rising or lowering. It seems a misapplication of terms to speak of
cooking or scalding at a temperature of 98 or 100 degrees; yet, we all
know that blood-heat is all that is required for cheese-making. This
heat seems necessary. Perhaps it is because nature designed the gastric
juice from the rennet to operate at the temperature. It is a well
established fact that digestion will not go on when the temperature of
the stomach is below that of blood-heat. We presume a much higher
temperature is equally detrimental. This may account for the fact that
blood-heat is the best for cheese-making, as at that temperature the
rennet is most active. Be this as it may, we are satisfied that the
process is retarded and the curd deteriorated by allowing the
temperature to fall during the time it is in the scald. Instead of
cooking, and condensing, as it should, in order to expel the whey, it is
only soaking and souring. The moment the acid is sufficiently developed,
though the curd be yet soft and raw, the whey is drawn, the curd is
further cooled and soaked, and then dipped, drained, salted and put to
press. A leaky cheese is the result. If the weather is cool and bad for
curing, a sour cheese follows. But whatever the weather may be, we doubt
if a leaky cheese ever yet turned out all right in flavor and quality.
It can never have that nutty, new-milk flavor which belongs to cheese
properly cooked. We presume there are those who will differ with us in
opinion, but we should demand the positive evidence of at least four
senses before believing we are wrong.
We say, therefore, raise your temperature gradually and evenly, to full
blood-heat, and there retain it until your curd is ready to dip. Then we
believe it would be an advantage to dip and drain, without cooling more
than what cannot be avoided, and salt warm. But of salting, we will
speak more at length some other time. We are now discussing the question
of heat. Let us give a little every-day illustration. Suppose the
housewife were to put her potatoes for dinner in a kettle of water, run
the heat up to 212°, and then allow it to cool by radiation until the
potatoes are done. What kind of a dish would they make? Or, after she
had cooked her potatoes, suppose she should let them stand and soak
until they are cool enough to handle without danger of burning or
scalding any one. Who would want to eat the watery things? The truth is,
212° is the proper temperature for boiling potatoes, and the sooner and
hotter you can get them out of the water, the better. So, in our
opinion, blood-heat, or 98° to 100°, is the proper temperature for
cooking cheese curd, and that after the curd is done, the sooner and
warmer it is dipped, the better for the curd--the sweeter,
richer-flavored and better grained (not pasty, but more of the
consistency of hard, well-made butter, which shows the batter globules
whole) will be the cheese, and its keeping qualities will be
correspondingly improved. It may be a little more work to cool the curd
in the air, and harder keeping it from packing; but if dipped warm, the
whey will the sooner drain off, and the salt can be the sooner thrown
on, when it will penetrate quicker, season the mass more evenly, and
form a coating to the particles of curd, which will keep them from
packing together.
But whether the curd is cooled before dipping or not, we maintain that
it is a great advantage to keep the temperature up to blood-heat during
the entire process after the heat is once raised. With self-heating
apparatus, this can be done by keeping a very little fire going--just
enough to supply the loss of heat from radiation. Where the heating is
done by running warm water around the milk-vat, a current of the proper
temperature can be kept up. If steam is used, perhaps a small jet can be
kept pouring into the space around the vat. But in all these cases, the
danger is that too high a temperature will have to be kept up at the
point of applying the heat, in order to prevent the temperature of the
whole mass from falling. This is a decided objection, and necessitates a
great deal of stirring, which is only a palliative of and not a remedy
for the evil.
Of course we write with reference to the management of heat with milk
that is sweet and in proper condition for cheese-making. Where it is
"old," or tainted, to begin with, it is necessary to hurry the heat, and
every operation connected with the process of making it up. A higher
temperature and less time will be found to produce a very similar effect
to a lower temperature and more time. But, in all cases, an even, steady
heat should be aimed at and maintained to the end.
We never could quite understand the philosophy of cooking less in the
spring and fall than in the summer. The idea that it makes the cheese
more buttery to dip the curd raw, seems to us very absurd. If there is
any time when a curd needs to be thoroughly cooked, it is when the
weather is cool and unfavorable for curing. If the whey is not properly
expelled by the action of heat, it has got to either dry out or leak
out, or both. If there is too much left in the curd to dry out, long
before it can leak out, your cheese will be sour, with a puckered face,
and sundry ugly cracks. Even when the cheese does not absolutely drip,
if the curd is dipped while underdone, it will sour, the face will have
a corrugated appearance, and the cheese will "try" crumbly and sour. The
color will also be paler than in those that are properly cooked, the
general look will be clammy, and no rind will form that will be
satisfactory. Even when well-cooked and well-made, if a cheese does not
have sufficient warmth, it will sour on the ranges and spoil; and it
stands to reason that cheese made from a curd insufficiently cooked must
work a great deal worse under unfavorable conditions for curing. Our
experience is, that a curd needs more cooking in the spring and fall
than will answer in hot, dry weather. If we must have a curd dipped soft
at any season of the year, we say let it be at that season when the
weather is best for drying and curing. A cheese that would become
worthless on the ranges in cold, wet weather, may turn out pretty fair
in "dog days." But we do not believe in undercooking at any time. Food,
of all kinds, needs as much cooking one season of the year as another.
It is quite likely, however, that a degree or two lower heat will answer
in cool weather, for the reason that milk keeps better then, and the
curd remains longer in the scald before taking on acid. In this case, we
have a lower heat for a longer time, which will produce the same result
as a higher heat for a shorter time. But in both cases the curd ought to
be cooked the same. Whatever degree of heat is decided upon, let it be
kept up, steady and uniform throughout the mass, and at all seasons of
the year let the curd be cooked done. This is specially important when
the conditions for curing are unfavorable. You must do, then, in the vat
part of the work which can be done on the ranges when the weather is
favorable.