I have doubted the utility of inserting a receipt for regular
cheese-making. The apparatus necessary for the manufacture is seldom,
if ever, found in a private family, while cheese can be had in every
country store at one-third the expense to an amateur of making it. But,
remembering that it may be a pleasant, if not profitable experiment,
for the mistress of many cows to make at her odd moments, I have
secured what purports to be an exact description of “cheese-making on a
small scale.”
To each gallon of milk warm from the cow, add a piece of rennet six
inches long and three wide, or two tablespoonfuls rennet water—_i. e._,
water in which rennet has been boiled. Cover, and set in a warm place
until it becomes a firm curd; this should be, at the most, not more
than three-quarters of an hour. When the whey has separated entirely,
and looks clear and greenish, wash your hands very clean, and with
them gently press all the curd to one side of the pan or tub, while an
assistant dips out the whey. Have ready a stout linen bag, pour the
curd into it, and hang it up to dry until not another drop of whey
can be pressed out; then put the curd into a wooden dish, and chop it
fine. Empty into a finer bag, and put into a small cheese-box, or other
circular wooden box with a perforated bottom, and a lid that slides
down easily but closely on the inside. Your bag should be as nearly
as possible the same shape and size as this box. Lay heavy weights
upon the top, in lack of a cheese-press, and let it stand an hour. The
cloth should be wet _inside_ as well as out, before you put the curds
in. At the end of the hour, take out the cheese and chop again, adding
salt this time. Have ready a fresh wet cloth; pack in the curd hard.
There should be a circular cover for this bag, which must be basted all
around, and very smooth on top. Scald the box and cover, then rinse
with cold water, and put the cheese again under press for twelve hours.
Next day, take it out, rub all over with salt, and fit on a clean wet
cloth. Look at it sixteen hours later, pare off the rough edges, and
scrape the sides of inequalities before returning to the press for the
last time. Let it remain under the weights for twenty-four hours. Strip
off the cloth, rub the cheese well with butter, and lay upon a clean
cloth spread on a shelf in a cool, dry place. A wire-safe is best. Wipe
clean; then rub every day with butter for a week, and turn also every
twenty-four hours. At the end of the week, omit the greasing, and rub
hard with a coarse cloth. Do this every day for a month. Your cheese
will then be eatable, but it will be much finer six months later.
Stilton cheeses—renowned over the world—are buried in dry heather
when they are firm enough to remove from the shelves, and kept there a
month. This is called “ripening.”