IT is quite impossible here to give more than the merest outline of the
steps taken in preparing the various sorts of cheese manufactured in
this country. The processes will, moreover, be more fully described in
a future volume of this series. Meanwhile, the reader may be advised
to study the three pamphlets issued by the Royal Agricultural Society
dealing with the practices of making Cheddar, Cheshire, and Stilton
cheeses respectively. A brief summary may, however, be useful to those
who can supplement this by a few actual observations of practical
cheese-making by skilful operators.
In some ways, and by many connoisseurs, Stilton is considered the
finest of English cheeses. The first step in its manufacture is the
addition of Hansen’s (or other) rennet, at the rate of one drachm
to four gallons, to the fresh-strained milk when the milk has a
temperature of from 80° to 85° F., the making-room being kept at a
temperature of about 60° F. The whole is well stirred in a vat for
eight minutes. When, in an hour so, the milk has completely turned,
and the curd is ready for cutting and ladling, straining cloths, from
thirty-six to forty-five inches square, are placed in earthenware
curd-sinks, rods being used to support the sides. The curd is then
ladled out of the vat by means of a half-gallon ladle, and about three
gallons of curd are placed in each straining cloth, the plugs of the
curd-sinks being in position. When the curd has stood for an hour and
a half, open the plugs, drain off the whey, replace the plugs, tie the
straining cloths, and tighten them every two hours until night, drawing
off the whey each time. Then empty the curd on to the curd-tray, and
leave it all night. On the next morning draw off the whey, cut the curd
into three-inch cubes, and leave it to drain for a couple of hours. The
milk from the next milking is treated in like manner. On the afternoon
of the second day the two curds are thoroughly mixed together, broken
up to the size of large filberts, salted at the rate of an ounce to
three and a half pounds of curd, and placed into cheese hoops placed
on round pieces of wood covered with “cheese greys.” The hoops are put
on the drainer, and turned every two hours during the first day by
means of loose calico-covered discs over their top surfaces, similar
to those which served as their basis. The temperature of the room
whilst draining is going on must be about five decrees higher than that
of the making-room. After the first day the cheeses are turned three
times daily. In about a week the cheese can stand alone, and should be
removed from the hoops, calico binders taking their place. The cheeses
are still to be kept on the draining shelves, fresh binders being
applied daily; the outside of the cheese being gently scraped with a
table knife at each binding. As soon as a dry crust begins to form, the
binders are to be removed. The cheeses are to be kept at a temperature
of about 55° F., and given plenty of air. They require turning daily.
In about a month the cheeses are to be placed in a dark store-room
having a temperature of 60° to 65° F., and are to be turned and brushed
daily. In about six months they are fit for the table.
In making Cheddar cheese, the night’s milk is placed in a vat, and left
until the following morning, being kept fairly cool. If much cream has
risen by the morning, this must be skimmed off, added to the morning’s
milk, and well stirred. The morning’s milk must then be heated by the
pan being placed in a vessel containing hot water until its temperature
is raised to a point not far short of, but never exceeding, 95° F. The
evening’s milk is then added to it, and the joint temperature brought
to about 80° to 85° F. Rennet is added, as in the case of Stilton
cheese. In about an hour, when the curd breaks readily and clearly,
as if cut, the curd is to be cut by a long thin knife into two-inch
cubes. In about five minutes the curd is to be further broken up for
about fifty minutes by the “breaker” until the pieces are of the size
of peas, the whey keeping green all the while. Allow the whey to drain
and separate for five or ten minutes, when it should be partly baled or
syphoned off, heated to 130° F., and returned so as to raise the total
temperature to 90° to 95° F., the curd being well stirred during the
return of the heated whey, which process should be gradual, extending
over ten minutes or more. The whey should now rest above the hard and
shotty curd, which sinks to the bottom of the vat. In about a quarter
of an hour the whey is drawn off, the curd is cut up, and the pieces
are piled in a mound. Keep it warm by covering it with cloths, and in
a quarter of an hour again cut it into pieces, turn it, and arrange it
afresh in a mound. It is again covered for half an hour, then removed
to a cooler, cut into small pieces, and covered for another half an
hour. This is often again and again repeated until the curd is ripe
for grinding. The curd having been ground, pure salt at the rate of
an ounce to three pounds should be carefully dredged over, and mixed
into it. The curd should then be placed in the cloth-lined moulds, and
subjected to the press for twelve hours. The cloth is then changed,
the cheese turned, and again pressed for twenty-four hours. This is
repeated for four days, when the cheese is finally removed from the
mould, bandaged after the manner of Stilton, and kept in a temperature
of 65° to 70° F. for six weeks, being turned daily the while, and then
in a temperature of 60° to 65° F., when it is turned on alternate days
for another six or eight weeks.
_Cream Cheese._—There are several soft cheeses well worth the attention
of the small dairy owner. Simple cream cheese is the easiest of all,
for one has only to take a quart of thick cream, put it with two drops
of rennet into a napkin which has been freshly rinsed out in cold
spring water, and sprinkle a little salt over it. Tie up the cream in
the napkin as tightly as possible, and hang it up in the dairy. It may
be eaten in twenty-four hours. The napkin must be changed at night, and
again in the morning, for a fresh one wrung out in cold water. When the
cream cheese comes out of the dining-room, it must be again tied up in
a clean damp napkin and taken immediately to the dairy.
_Grewelthorp Cream Cheese_ is equally simple in its manufacture. Take
one quart of new milk, and put it with a few drops of rennet in a warm
place, where it must remain for twenty-four hours. Then put in a little
salt, stir the milk well, tie it up in a cloth, and hang it up in the
dairy to drain. If a richer cheese is required, add half a pint of
cream to the new milk.
A number of soft cheeses may be made with the help of some tinned iron
cylindrical moulds open at both ends. These moulds may be of various
diameters and depths. Some loose squares of wood, some entire and
others perforated, of various sizes, to serve as bottoms and tops of
the moulds, must also be provided; and straw mats of the same size as
the boards are also desirable. A good average size for the moulds is
five inches in diameter, and four inches in depth. About two quarts of
milk are required to make one cheese for this size mould.
_To make Camembert_, the rennet diluted with water is added to milk
of a temperature of about 85° F., and the whole is stirred for three
minutes. It is then covered for about four hours, until no curd adheres
to the finger when placed on its surface. The curd is then ladled in
slices into the moulds, each mould being placed on a straw mat, with a
board below, resting on a sloping table. The full moulds are allowed to
drain for about six hours in a temperature of 60° F. A clean mat and
board are then placed at the top of the mould, the latter inverted,
and the previous base removed and cleaned. Repeat this changing and
inversing twice a day for two days. Then remove the cheeses from the
moulds, sprinkle some salt on top and bottom, and stand them on straw
or straw-mats in a temperature of about 50° to 55° F., a free current
of air being carried through the drying-room. The cheeses require
turning each morning and evening for another three days, then every
morning for a week, and afterwards on alternate days. In about a
fortnight, when the cheeses cease to stick to the hand when touched,
they are put in a cool (about 50° F.), dark, slightly damp cellar to
ripen for about another fortnight, being turned on alternate days.
_Gervais Cheese._—Messrs. Long and Morton, in their book “The Dairy,”
give directions for preparing a Mignon or Gervais. This cheese is made
of a mixture of cream and milk set at a temperature of 65° F. Six drops
of Hansen’s rennet are sufficient for two and a half quarts of milk
and one quart of cream. The curd is fit to cut in from six to eight
hours, when it is removed into a cloth, in which it is allowed to drain
until it is sufficiently solid and consistent to press.
Removed into a clean cloth, it is laid within a wooden frame with
open sides, and pressed with a close-fitting follower of wood, heavy
enough to cause the whey to drain away without any loss of cream. This
pressure, with one or two manipulations, with the object of maintaining
evenness of consistence, continues until the curd is as thick as an ice
cream, when it is pressed into specially made paper-lined moulds. It
may be eaten about three days later.
_To pot Cheese._—A pleasant form of potted food is made by pounding
together in a mortar a pound of cheese, three ounces of quite fresh
butter, and half a table-spoonful each of castor sugar and made
mustard. This mixture should be packed in jars, covered with clarified
butter, and securely covered. It should not be kept longer than a
fortnight.