So much has been written and said, and so little understood, about
cheese making, that it seems almost a hopeless task, as well as a
thankless one, to attempt to say anything more on the subject. Sour
ignoramuses and floating charlatans have spoiled more curds than have
been spoiled by any defect in the milk. Sour, whey-soaked cheese has
been the rage, and it is generally supposed that acid alone makes a
firm cheese, when the experience of every cheese maker is that it is
very difficult, by the ordinary processes, to make a firm curd out of
sour milk--which, of course, no one ought to be asked to make into
cheese--unless it be pot-cheese. Acid may make a curd solid, but not
until it has cut out a large share of the goodness of the curd, and the
cheese resulting will be about as digestible as so much putty.