THE DAIRY.
Cows for the Dairy.
From what has been said on the various characteristics of the different
breeds of cattle, it must be evident, that no very definite criteria of
excellence can be given for all good dairy cows. But there are certain
points in a good milker, that can hardly be mistaken.
She should be descended from the best milking stock; her head should be
small or of medium size, muzzle fine, and nostrils flexible and
expanded; face long, slender, and dishing; cheeks thin; eyes full, mild,
and prominent; horns delicate and waxy, and they may be either
branching, lopped, crumpled, or hornless; long, thin, lively ear, and
the inside of an orange color; neck thin and small at its junction with
the head; deep chest, but not too heavy before; back level and broad;
well ribbed; belly large; low flank; wide thighs, but thin; short legs,
and standing well apart; large milking veins; loose, capacious udder,
coming well out behind; good teats; loose, mellow skin, of a deep
yellow; and a fine, thick coat of glossy hair; and she must be of a good
disposition, and free from tricks.
Yet, with all the skill of a well-practised taste in the selection of
animals, the dairyman will frequently find his theories and results at
sad variance. One may sometimes select a fine animal, with every
appearance of good milking qualities, which is but a medium cow at the
pail; and another, that hardly seems worthy of notice, and which sets at
defiance many established milking points, and all preconceived notions
of symmetry, may yet prove a good milker. A cow that runs to flesh while
in milk, is generally an indifferent animal for the dairy. Perfection
in a cow, consists in converting all she eats into milk while yielding
it, and when dry, in turning all she consumes into valuable meat.
Management of Dairy Cows.
A cow may have her first calf when between two and three years of age,
according to her size and development. After calving, she should be
stinted in her food for two or three days, and not fed freely for a
week. Avoid fat in a breeding cow. Too high feeding is the cause of
milk-fever, caked bag, garget, and a host of evils; and very poor feed
is almost equally objectionable.
The average time of a cow with young, is from 40 to 41 weeks; but they
sometimes go only 34, and occasionally overrun 44.
A dry, unoccupied stall or yard is best for her to calve in; and if
there is any serious delay or difficulty in the operation, she may be
assisted by placing the f[oe]tus in the right position, and gently
pulling it, with every throe of the dam. After the calf has drawn all he
wants at morning and evening, the bag should be thoroughly and quickly
emptied of all the milk. If strong and vigorous, the calf is the best
doctor for garget or caked bag. He may be allowed to suck the cow or
not, at the option of the owner; there are reasons for and against the
practice, as will be seen under the head of rearing calves, and each
person must determine in his own case on which side the balance lies.
Milking.
This is an important operation, and on its proper performance depends
much of the success of the dairyman. A cow regularly, gently, yet
quickly and thoroughly milked, will give much more than if neglected. If
a herd of cows be separated into two divisions, each yielding the same
quantity of milk, and one is given to a good milker, and the other to a
shiftless or lazy one, the latter will speedily reduce his milk much
below the quantity obtained by the former; and if the milkers then
exchange cows, they will be found to change quantity too, those before
affording the least, soon giving the most. An indifferent milker ought
never to be tolerated in a herd, good ones are cheaper at double the
price. It is best to milk at intervals of about 12 hours; which may be
done when pastures are convenient, or cows are soiled or fed in the
yard. But as this is not often the case in the season of green food,
they should be milked early in the morning and turned into pasture, to
fill themselves before the sun is oppressive; and if they are to be kept
up at night, let them browse in the pasture as long as possible, before
they are brought to the yard.
MILK
Is produced from the females of all the warm-blooded animals, which are
enumerated among the mammaliae. The milk of several animals is employed
for domestic purposes, among different nations. That of the camel is
used by the Arabs; the milk of the ass by the Spaniards, the Maltese,
and the inhabitants of the Levant; that of the mare by the Cossacks, the
Kirgheez, and other Tartars; and that of the goat, the ewe, and the cow,
by most of the ancient, and with few exceptions, by every modern
European nation. Within the last century, however, the use of all
excepting cow's milk has been almost entirely discarded, among the most
highly civilized people.
If we except some few Welsh and Swiss, or other emigrants, who resort to
the goat and ewe for their dairy materials, for the first few years of
their residence here, the cow is the only animal which is employed in
America for producing milk. For this, she is pre-eminently fitted, and
the modern improvement of this invaluable animal has carried her product
of milk almost as far as can be reasonably looked for from a given
amount of food; and although this is of about the average richness of
the goat and ewe, and before that of the ass, the quantity she yields is
frequently as 60 to 1, in favor of the cow, over the first two
competitors. As a milk-giving animal, the cow is the best fitted for the
purposes of civilized man; and she is made to contribute, not only to
his health, his comfort, and his economy, but to many of his choicest
luxuries. Milk contains every element of nutrition necessary to animal
existence; and man can subsist, with unimpaired health and strength, if
limited to this food alone.
The Constituents of Milk
Are butter, which varies from 2 to 6 per cent.; casein or cheese,
usually 4 to 5, but sometimes varying from 3 to 15 per cent.; (the last
excessive quantity, yielded only by the first milk after calving;)
milk-sugar, 4 to 6; salts or saline matter, 0.2 to 0.6; and water, 80 to
89.
_There is much diversity in the product and quality of milk_ from cows
of the same breed, the same food, and other circumstances and
conditions, apparently equal. Thus, of a herd of 22, chiefly Ayrshire,
one gave 84 quarts in one week, which afforded 31/2 lbs. of butter; two
others in the same time gave 86, yielding 51/2 lbs.; and a fourth gave 88
quarts, making 7 lbs.
The amount of butter, however, which a given quantity of milk will
produce, is not the only criterion of the value of the milk, except for
this purpose alone. Some cows will yield more butter, others will
produce more cheese; while for consumption, another may partially
compensate, in the increased quantity of milk-sugar, and the saline
matters, for a deficiency of both the other ingredients. But for dairy
purposes, butter and cheese are the only measure of the value of milk;
and a cow is esteemed good or indifferent, as she gives one or the other
in the greatest abundance.
Circumstances which modify the Quantity and Character of Milk.
Besides the accidental variation in the quantity and quality of milk in
different animals, before adverted to, there are many reliable causes
which influence both. Of these, parentage has a most decided and uniform
influence, frequently modified, however, in the particular individual,
by some personal and controlling causes. But a cow, whose maternal
ancestry on both sides are choice milkers, is almost certain to resemble
them.
Food influences the quantity, rather than the quality. Boussingault
tried numerous experiments, with cows fed on various kinds of food, and
found the difference hardly appreciable in the quality of milk. Its true
benefit is to be looked for in the increased quantity, through which,
the valuable ingredients are distributed in nearly the same proportion,
as when the product is materially lessened. By quality we mean to be
understood, the amount of the ingredients, _valuable for nutrition
only_; for it is certain, that there is a rich aromatic flavor, not only
in milk, but in butter and cheese, which is afforded in various articles
of food, and especially by the fresh green herbage which abounds in the
pastures from spring to autumn.
Activity or rest has a great effect on both quantity and quality. The
less action, and the more quiet and rest, the greater the amount of milk
and butter. But exercise is absolutely essential to the production of
cheese. Butter may be made from cows confined in a stable, but cheese
can only be profitably made from animals at pasture. It is supposed by
physiologists, that the exercise in gathering their food, rather than
any peculiarity in its character, is necessary to convert the
nitrogenized tissues into the nitrogenized principle of caseum or
cheese.
The time from calving, has also its effect. The first milk drawn from a
cow after calving, has been found to yield over 15 per cent. of casein,
while in its ordinary state it gives only three to five and a half. As
the quantity of milk diminishes in a farrow cow, the quality improves
within certain limits. Pregnancy affects the quality injuriously, and
especially towards its latter stages; and a cow that is predisposed to
giving milk, should be dried off a few weeks before its expiration, as
it is then unfit for use.
Fat cows give poorer milk than such as are moderately lean; and young
animals do not come up to the maximum of their quality, till after their
third or fourth calving.
The milk first drawn from the udder, will yield only an eighth, and
sometimes even a much less proportion of cream, than the strippings; and
the milk which is drawn three times a day, is greatly inferior to such
as is taken but once, though the latter is less abundant.
Excitement, or fretfulness; change of locality, or to a different herd,
with new companions; separation from her calf; periodical heat;
annoyance from flies, or worry from dogs; exposure to storms, severe
cold, or an oppressive sun, and many similar causes, diminish the
quantity of milk and butter; but some of these may reasonably be
expected to increase the proportion of its casein.
Dr. Playfair found that the quantity of butter in the evening milk,
after the cow had been at pasture all day, was 3.7 per cent., while the
casein was 5.4; after lying quietly all night, the milk from the same
cow, on the following morning, contained 5.6 per cent. of butter, and
only 3.9 of casein. In stabling the cow, the butter was invariably in
greater proportion than when allowed to ramble in the pasture; and the
casein, with a single exception, was equally diminished.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.
Lactometer, or Cream Guage.]
Fig. 17, is a number of glass tubes of equal size, set in a frame called
a _lactometer_ or _cream guage_. If milk from different cows be set in
these, the depth of the cream will indicate their comparative richness.
Cream.
If milk be immediately set away in shallow vessels, after being taken
from the cow, the cream rises to the surface, carrying with it most of
the butter contained in the milk, and much of its casein also. Hence,
the great nutritive properties of buttermilk, which retains the casein
in very large proportions, much of it being rejected by the butter in
its separation from the cream.
A temperature below 34 deg., will prevent the cream from rising in any
considerable quantity, and preserve the milk unaltered for some weeks.
Coagulating the milk from any cause, will equally prevent the separation
of the cream. The elevation of temperature within certain limits,
hastens the separation. Thus, at 50 deg., the cream will mostly have risen
in 36 hours; at 55 deg., in 24; at 68 deg., in 18 or 20; and at 77 deg., in 10 or 12
hours.
Heating the milk near the boiling point, and then setting it away and
allowing it to remain undisturbed, will soon cause the cream to rise. In
the celebrated Orange dairy, near Baltimore, Md., this system was
practised, by which, not only most of the cream was secured for butter,
but in consequence of its rapid separation, the skimmed milk was sent to
market within a few hours after being drawn; and the scalding imparted
to it an agreeable flavor and apparent richness, which it did not really
possess.
The celebrated clouted cream of Devonshire, England, and the butter made
from it, contains an unusual quantity of casein, the consequence of
heating the milk. "It is prepared by straining the warm milk into large
shallow pans into which a little water has previously been put, allowing
these to stand from six to twelve hours, and then carefully heating them
over a slow fire, or on a hot plate, till the milk approaches the
boiling point. The milk, however, must not actually boil, nor must the
skin of the cream be broken. The dishes are now removed into the dairy,
and allowed to cool. In summer the cream should be churned on the
following day; in winter it may stand over two days. The quantity of
cream obtained is said to be one-fourth greater by this method, and the
milk which is left is proportionably poor."--[_Johnston._]
BUTTER.
Electricity
Has much to do with the changes in milk, as in all other substances.
Glass milk-pans might, therefore, be supposed to be the best vessels for
keeping the milk unchanged and sweet.
It may possibly not afford any practical result, yet intelligent
experiments for introducing a stream of electricity might well be
justified, to aid in the separation of the butteraceous particles in the
operation of churning.
Sour Cream.
Cream, for the purpose of churning, is usually allowed to become sour.
It ought to be at least one day old, but may with advantage be kept
several days in cool weather, if it be previously well freed from milk,
and be frequently stirred to keep it from curdling. This sour cream is
put into the churn, and worked in the usual way until the butter
separates. This is collected into lumps, well beat and squeezed free
from the milk, and in some dairies is washed with pure cold water as
long as the water is rendered milky. In other localities the butter is
not washed, but after being well beat, is carefully freed from the
remaining milk by repeated squeezings and dryings with a clean cloth.
Both methods, no doubt, have their advantages. In the same
circumstances, the washed butter may be more easily preserved in the
fresh state, while the unwashed butter will probably possess a higher
flavor.
Sweet Cream
May be put into the churn and the butter be obtained, but in most cases
it requires more labor and longer time, without, in the opinion of good
judges, affording in general a finer quality of butter. In all cases the
cream becomes sour during the agitation, and before the butter begins
distinctly to form.
Clouted Cream
The churning of the clouted cream of this and other countries, forms an
exception to the general rule just stated, that more time is required in
the churning of sweet creams. Clouted cream may be churned in the
morning after it is made, that is, within twenty-four hours of the time
when the milk was taken from the cow; and from such cream it is well
known that the butter separates with very great ease. But in this case,
the heating of the cream has already disposed the oily matter to cohere,
an incipient running together of the globules has probably taken place
before the cream is removed from the milk, and hence the comparative
ease with which the churning is effected. There is something peculiar in
butter prepared in this way, as it is known in other countries by the
name of Bohemian butter. It is said to be very agreeable in flavor, but
it must contain more cheesy matter than the butter from ordinary cream.
Churning the whole Milk
Is a much more laborious method, from the difficulty of keeping in
motion such large quantities of fluid. It has the advantage, however, of
giving a larger quantity of butter. At Rennes, in Brittany, the milk of
the previous evening is poured _into the churn_ along with the warm
morning's milk, and the mixture is allowed to stand for some hours, when
the whole is churned. In this way it is said that a larger quantity of
butter is obtained, and of a more delicate flavor.
In the neighborhood of Glasgow, according to Mr. Aiton, the milk is
allowed to stand six, twelve, or twenty-four hours in the dairy, till
the whole has cooled, and the cream has risen to the surface. Two or
three milkings, still sweet, are then poured together with their cream,
into a large vessel, and are left undisturbed till the whole has become
quite sour, and is completely coagulated. The proper sourness is
indicated by the formation of a stiff _brat_ upon the surface _which has
become uneven_. Great care must be taken to keep the brat and curd
unbroken until the milk is about to be churned, for if any of the whey
be separated, the air gains admission to it and to the curd, and
fermentation is induced. By this fermentation, the quality of the butter
may or may not be affected, but that of the buttermilk is almost sure to
be injured.
In Holland the practice is a little different. The cream is not allowed
to rise to the surface at all, but the milk is stirred two or three
times a day, till it gets sour, and so thick that a wooden spoon will
stand in it. It is then put into the churn, and the working, or the
separation of the butter is assisted by the addition of a quantity of
cold water. By churning the sour milk in one or other of these ways, the
butter is said to be "rich, sound, and well-flavored." If it be greater
in quantity, it is, according to Sprengel, because the fatty matter
carries with it from the milk a larger quantity of casein than it does
in most cases from the cream alone.
Sourness of the Cream.
For the production of the best butter, it is necessary that the cream
should be sufficiently sour before it is put into the churn. Butter made
from sweet cream (not clouted) is neither good in quality, nor large in
quantity, and longer time is required in churning. It is an unprofitable
method.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.]
Fig. 18 is a _Cylindrical Thermometer Churn_, of any required size, with
false metal bottom to hold cold or hot water for bringing the cream to
the proper temperature. A thermometer, permanently set in the side,
indicates the heat.
Quickness in Churning.
The more quickly milk or cream is churned, the paler, the softer, and
the less rich the butter. Cream, according to Mr. Aiton, may be safely
churned in an hour and a half, while milk ought to obtain from two to
three hours. The churning ought always to be regular, slower in warm
weather, that the butter may not be soft and white, and quicker in
winter, that the proper temperature may be kept up.
A barrel-churn, lately introduced into this country, being placed in a
trough of water of the proper temperature, readily imparts the degree of
heat required by the milk or cream without the necessity of adding warm
water to the milk, _and churns the whole in ten or twelve minutes_. It
is said also to give a larger weight of butter from the same quantity of
milk. If the quality be really as good by this quick churning, the
alleged inferiority in the quality of butter churned quickly in the
common churn cannot be due to the mere rapidity of churning alone.
Over-churning.
When the process of churning is continued after the full separation of
the butter, it loses its fine yellowish, waxy appearance, and becomes
soft and light-colored. The weight of the butter, however, is
considerably increased; and hence, in Lancashire, over-churning is
frequently practised in the manufacture of fresh butter for immediate
sale.
Temperature of the Milk or Cream.
Much also depends upon the temperature of the milk or cream when the
churning is commenced. Cream when put into the churn should never be
warmer than 55 deg. Fahrenheit It rises during the churning from 4 deg. to 10 deg.
F. above its original temperature. When the whole milk is churned, the
temperature should be raised to 65 deg. F., which is best done by pouring in
hot water into the churn _while the milk is kept in motion_. In winter,
either of these temperatures may be easily attained. In cold weather it
is often necessary to add hot water to the cream to raise it even to
55 deg.. But in summer, and especially in hot weather, it is difficult, even
in cool and well-ordered dairies, (without the use of ice,) to keep the
cream down to this comparatively low temperature. Hence, if the cream be
then churned, a second-rate butter, at best, is all that can be
obtained.
The alleged advantages of Churning the entire Milk.
The proper temperature can be readily obtained both in winter and
summer. A hundred gallons of entire milk, will give, in summer, five per
cent. more butter than the cream from the same quantity of milk. Butter
of the best quality can be obtained without difficulty, both in winter
and summer. No special attention to circumstances, or change of method,
is at any time required. The churning in winter and summer is alike
simple and easy. The butter is not only of the best quality while fresh,
but is also best for long-keeping, when properly cured or salted.
Cleanliness in all the operations of the Dairy.
This is peculiarly necessary to the manufacture of good butter. Cream is
remarkable for the rapidity with which it absorbs and becomes tainted by
any unpleasant odors. It is very necessary that the air of the dairy
should be sweet, that it should be often renewed, and that it should be
open in no direction from which bad odors can come. (_Johnston and other
authorities._)
The statement of J. T. Lansing, who received the first premium for
butter from the New York State Agricultural Society, is as follows:--
_Keep the cows stabled through the inclement season_; feed them from
three to four times per day with good hay or green stalks; when near
coming in, add some oats, barley, or corn cracked. In summer, good
pasture, with living water accessible at all times, and plenty of salt.
_Treatment of milk and cream before churning._--Strain the milk in tin
pans; place them in a cool cellar for the cream to rise. When
sufficiently risen, separate the cream from the milk; put in stone jars,
well prepared before churning.
_The mode of churning in summer._--Rinse the churn with cold water; then
turn in the cream, and add to each jar of cream put in the churn, full
one-fourth of the same quantity of cold water. The churn used is a
patent one, moved by hand with a crank, having paddles attached, and so
constructed as to warm the milk (if too cold) with hot water, without
mixing them together. The milk and cream receive the same treatment in
winter as in summer; and in churning, use hot instead of cold water, if
necessary.
_The method of freeing the butter from the milk_, is to wash the butter
with cold water, till it shows no color of the milk, by the use of a
ladle.
_Salting the butter._--Use the best kind of Liverpool sack-salt; the
quantity varies according to the state in which the butter is taken from
the churn; if soft, more; if hard, less; always taking the taste for
the surest guide. Add no saltpetre, nor other substances.
_The best time for churning_ is the morning, in hot weather, and to keep
the butter cool till put down.
_The best mode of preserving butter_, in and through the summer and
winter, is as follows:--The vessel is a stone jar, clean and sweet. The
mode of putting it down is to put in a churning of butter, and put on
strong brine; let it remain on until the next churning is ready to put
down, and so on till the jar is filled; then cover it with fine salt the
same to remain on till used.
Mr. McWilliams, of Orange county, the celebrity of whose butter is
unsurpassed, thus details his method of butter-making:
"Our practice is not to churn the milk until it becomes thick or
loppered, the milk and cream is then churned together. The temperature
of the milk is about fifty degrees. In warm weather about a quart of
cold water is put in each pan before the milk is strained, so as to keep
it sweet as long as possible. The cellar-floor is brick. This in warm
weather is daily cleansed with cold water. A drain from the cellar
carries off the water thus applied. The churn is filled about half full
with milk, with the addition of two pails of cold water before starting
the churn. In cold weather the same quantity of warm water is applied.
When the churning is finished, which usually occupies about two hours of
time, there are then two more pails of cold water applied to raise the
butter and cool it.
The butter is then taken out of the churn and put in a large tray; this
is immediately filled with cold water, and the butter carefully washed;
after which the water is thrown off. The butter now undergoes the
process of salting; it is then placed in a cool situation, where it
stands about an hour, and is worked carefully over. This finished, it is
placed in the same situation as before, where it stands three or four
hours, and is again worked over; again replaced for five or six hours,
when it is worked over for the third time. It is now replaced, where it
stands till the next morning, and worked over for the fourth time. A
small quantity of nitre is then put in the butter. Thus finished, it is
placed in firkins holding about eighty-five pounds.
Previous to packing, the firkin is scalded with hot water, rinsed and
cooled with cold water, then rubbed all around with fine salt; this
prevents the butter from adhering to the sides of the firkin. When the
firkin is full, a linen cloth is placed over the top of the butter; on
this cloth a covering of salt is put one inch deep, and cold water
enough added to it to form a brine. It then stands till it is to be sent
to market, when the cloth and salt are removed, the firkin turned down,
the top of the butter in the keg washed with cold water, and the pickle
drained off. The firkin is now neatly headed up and sent to market."
The salt added to the butter should be from 1-24th to 1-28th of its
weight, or about two-thirds of an ounce to a pound, and this must be of
the best quality. All the buttermilk must be thoroughly extracted by
repeated washings; and when completed, the butter should be immediately
packed, and not a particle of air allowed to come in contact with it
till opened for the table.
CHEESE.
The Circumstances affecting the Quality of Cheese.
"All cheese consists essentially of the curd, mixed with a certain
portion of the fatty matter, and of the sugar of milk. But differences
in the quality of the milk, in the proportion in which the several
constituents of milk are mixed together, or in the general mode of dairy
management, give rise to varieties of cheese almost without number.
Nearly every dairy district produces one or more qualities of cheese
peculiar to itself.
Natural Differences in the Milk
It is obvious that whatever gives rise to natural differences in the
quality of the milk, must affect also that of the cheese prepared from
it. If the milk be poor in butter, so must the cheese be. If the pasture
be such as to give a milk rich in cream, the cheese will partake of the
same quality. If the herbage or other food affect the taste of the milk
or cream, it will also modify the flavor of the cheese.
Milk of Different Animals.
So the milk of different animals will give cheese of unlike qualities.
The ewe-milk cheeses of Tuscany, Naples, and Languedoc, and those of
goats' milk made on Mont Dor and elsewhere, are celebrated for qualities
which are not possessed by cheeses prepared from cows' milk in a similar
way. Buffalo milk also gives a cheese of peculiar qualities, which is
manufactured in some parts of the Neapolitan territory."
Other kinds of cheese are made from mixtures of the milk of different
animals. Thus the strong-tasted cheese of Lecca and the celebrated
Roquefort cheese are prepared from mixtures of goat with ewe milk, and
the cheese of Mont Cenis from both of these mixed with the milk of the
cow.
Creamed or Uncreamed Milk.
Still further differences are produced, according to the proportion of
cream which is left in or is added to the milk. Thus, if cream only be
employed, we have the rich _cream-cheese_ which must be eaten in a
comparatively recent state. Or, if the cream of the previous night's
milking be added to the new milk of the morning, we may have such cheese
as the _Stilton_ of England, or the small, soft, and rich _Brie_
cheeses, so much esteemed in France.
If the entire milk only be used, we have such cheeses as the _Cheshire_,
the _Double Gloucester_, the _Cheddar_, the _Wiltshire_, and the
_Dunlop_ cheeses of Britain, the Kinnegad cheese of Ireland, and the
Gouda and Edam cheeses of Holland. Even here, however, it makes a
difference, whether the warm milk from the cow is curdled alone, as at
Gouda and Edam, or whether it is mixed with the milk of the evening
before, as is generally done in Cheshire and Ayrshire. Many persons are
of opinion that cream, which has once been separated, can never be so
well mixed again with the milk, that a portion of the fatty matter shall
not flow out with the whey and render the cheese less rich.
If the cream of the evening's milk be removed, and the skimmed milk
added to the new milk of the next morning, such cheeses as the _Single
Gloucester_ are obtained. If the cream be taken once from _all_ the
milk, the better kinds of skimmed-milk cheese, such as the Dutch cheese
of Leyden, are prepared; while if the milk be twice skimmed, we have the
poorer cheeses of Friesland and Groningen. If skimmed for three or four
days in succession, we get the hard and horny cheeses of Essex and
Sussex, which often require the axe to break them up.
Buttermilk Cheese.
But poor or butterless cheese will also differ in quality according to
the state of the milk from which it is extracted. If the new milk be
allowed to stand to throw up its cream, and this be then removed in the
usual way, the ordinary skimmed-milk cheese will be obtained by adding
rennet to the milk. But if, instead of skimming, we allow the milk to
stand till it begins to sour, and then remove the butter by churning the
whole, we obtain the milk in a sour state, (_buttermilk_.) From this
milk the curd separates naturally by gentle heating. But being thus
prepared from sour milk, and without the use of rennet, buttermilk
cheese differs more or less in quality from that which is made from
sweet skimmed-milk. The acid in the buttermilk, especially after it has
stood a day or two, is capable of coagulating new milk also; and thus,
by mixing more or less sweet milk with the buttermilk before it is
warmed, several other qualities of mixed butter and sweet-milk cheese
may readily be manufactured.
Whey Cheese.
The whey which separates from the curd, and especially the white whey,
which is pressed out towards the last, contains a portion of curd, and
not unfrequently a considerable quantity of butter also. When the whey
is heated, the curd and butter rise to the surface, and are readily
skimmed off. This curd alone will often yield a cheese of excellent
quality, and so rich in butter, that a very good imitation of Stilton
cheese may sometimes be made with alternate layers of new-milk curd and
this curd of whey.
Mixtures of Vegetable Substances with the Milk.
New varieties of cheese are formed by mixing vegetable substances with
the curd. A green decoction of two parts of sage leaves, one of
marigold, and a little parsley, gives its color to the _green cheese_ of
Wiltshire; some even mix up the entire leaves with the curd. The
celebrated Schabzieger cheese of Switzerland, is made by crushing the
skim-milk cheese after it is several months old to fine powder in a
mill, mixing it then with one-tenth of its weight of fine salt, and
one-twentieth of the powdered leaves of the mellilot trefoil,
(_trifolium melilotus cerulea_,) and afterwards with oil or butter,
working the whole into a paste, which is pressed and carefully dried.
Potato Cheeses,
As they are called, are made in various ways. One pound of sour milk is
mixed with five pounds of boiled potatoes and a little salt, and the
whole is beat into a pulp, which, after standing five or six days, is
worked up again, and then dried in the usual way. Others mix three parts
of dried boiled potatoes with two of fresh curd, or equal weights, or
more curd than potato, according to the quality required. Such cheeses
are made in Thuringia, in Saxony, and in other parts of Germany. In
Savoy, an excellent cheese is made by mixing one of the pulp of potatoes
with three of ewe-milk curd; and in Westphalia, a potato cheese is made
with skimmed milk.
Preparation of Rennet.
Rennet is prepared from the salted stomach or intestines of the sucking
calf, the unweaned lamb, the young kid, or even the young pig. In
general, however, the stomach of the calf is preferred, and there are
various ways of curing and preserving it.
The stomach of the newly killed animal contains a quantity of curd
derived from the milk on which it has been fed. In most districts, it is
usual to remove by a gentle washing the curd and slimy matters which are
present in the stomach, as they are supposed to impart a strong taste to
the cheese. In Cheshire, the curd is frequently salted separately for
immediate use. In Ayrshire and Limburg, on the other hand, the curd is
always left in the stomach and salted along with it. Some even give the
calf a copious draught of milk shortly before it is killed, in order
that the stomach may contain a larger quantity of the valuable curd.
Salting the Stomach.
In the mode of salting the stomach, similar differences prevail. Some
merely put a few handfuls of salt into and around it, then roll it
together, and hang it near the chimney to dry. Others salt it in a
pickle for a few days, and then hang it up to dry; while others pack
several of them in layers, with much salt both within and without, and
preserve them in a cool place, till the cheese-making season of the
following year. They are then taken out, drained from the brine, spread
upon a table, sprinkled with salt which is rolled in with a wooden
roller, and then hung up to dry. In some foreign countries, the recent
stomach is minced very fine, mixed with salt and bread into a paste, put
into a bladder, and then dried. In Lombardy, the stomach, after being
salted and dried, is minced and mixed up with salt, pepper, and a little
whey or water into a paste, which is preserved for use.
In whatever way the stomach or intestine of the calf is prepared and
preserved, the almost universal opinion seems to be, that it should be
kept for 10 or 12 months, before it is capable of yielding the best and
strongest rennet. If newer than 12 months, the rennet is thought to make
the cheese heave or swell, and become full of eyes or holes.
Making the Rennet.
In making the rennet, different customs also prevail. In some districts,
a bit of the dried stomach is put into half a pint of lukewarm water,
with as much salt as will lie upon a shilling, is allowed to stand over
night, and in the morning the infusion is poured into the milk. For a
cheese of 60 lbs. weight, a piece of the size of a dollar will often be
sufficient, though of some skins as much as 10 square inches are
required to produce the same effect. It is, however, more common to take
the entire stomach, and to pour upon them from one to three quarts of
water for each stomach, and to allow them to infuse for several days. If
only one has been infused, and the rennet is intended for immediate use,
the infusion requires only to be skimmed and strained. But if several be
infused, or as many as have been provided for the whole season, about
two quarts of water are taken for each, and, after standing not more
than two days, the infusion is poured off, and is completely saturated
with salt. During the summer it is constantly skimmed, and fresh salt
added from time to time. Or a strong brine may at once be poured upon
the skins, and the infusion, when the skins are taken out, may be kept
for a length of time. Some even recommend, that the liquid rennet should
not be used until it is at least two months old. When thus kept,
however, it is indispensable that the water should be fully saturated
with salt.
In Ayrshire, and in some other countries, it is customary to cut the
dried stomach into small pieces, and to put it, with a handful or two of
salt and one or two quarts of water, into a jar, to allow it to stand
for two or three days, afterwards to pour upon it another pint for a
couple of days, to mix the two decoctions, and when strained, to bottle
the whole for future use. In this state it may be kept for many months.
In making rennet, some use pure water only, others prefer clear whey,
others a decoction of leaves, such as those of the sweetbrier, the
dog-rose, and the bramble, or of aromatic herbs and flowers; while
others again, put in lemons, cloves, mace, or brandy. These various
practices are adopted for the purpose of making the rennet keep better,
of lessening its unpleasant smell, of preventing any unpleasant taste it
might give to the curd, or finally of directly improving the flavor of
the cheese. The acidity of the lemon will, no doubt, increase also the
coagulating power of any rennet to which it may be added.
The rennet thus prepared is poured into the milk previously raised to
the temperature of 90 deg. or 95 deg. F., and is intimately mixed with it. The
quantity which it is necessary to add varies with the quality of the
rennet, from a tablespoonful to half a pint for 30 or 40 gallons of
milk. The time necessary for the complete fixing of the curd varies also
from 15 minutes to an hour or even an hour and a half. The chief causes
of this variation, are the temperature of the milk, and the quality and
quantity of the rennet employed.
Different Qualities of Cheese.
The temperature of new or entire milk, when the rennet is added, should
be raised to about 95 deg. F.; that of skimmed milk need not be quite so
high. If the milk be warmer the curd is hard and tough, if colder, it is
soft and difficult to obtain free from the whey. When the former happens
to be the case, a portion of the first whey that separates may be taken
out into another vessel, allowed to cool, and then poured in again. If
it prove to have been too cold, hot milk or water may be added to it; or
a vessel containing hot water may be put into it before the curdling
commences; or the first portion of whey that separates may be heated and
poured again upon the curd. The quality of the cheese, however, will
always be more or less affected, when it happens to be necessary to
adopt any of these remedies. To make the best cheese, the true
temperature should always be attained as nearly as possible, before the
rennet is added.
Mode in which the Milk is warmed.
If, as is the case in some dairies, the milk be warmed in an iron pot
upon the naked fire, great care must be taken that it is not singed or
_fire-fanged_. A very slight inattention may cause this to be the case,
and the taste of the cheese is sure to be more or less affected by it.
In Cheshire, the milk is put into a large tin pail, which is plunged
into a boiler of hot water, and frequently stirred till it is raised to
the proper temperature. In large dairy establishments, however, the
safest method is to have a pot with a double bottom, consisting of one
pot within another, after the manner of a glue-pot; the space between
the two being filled with water. The fire applied beneath, thus acts
only upon the water, and can never, by any ordinary neglect, do injury
to the milk. It is desirable in this heating, not to raise the
temperature higher than is necessary, as a great heat is apt to give an
oiliness to the fatty matter of the milk.
The time during which the Curd stands.
This is also of importance. It should be broken up as soon as the milk
is fully coagulated. The longer it stands after this, the harder and
tougher it will become.
The quality of the Rennet.
This is of much importance, not only in regard to the certainty of the
coagulation, but also to the flavor of the cheese. In some parts of
Cheshire, it is usual to take a piece of the dried membrane and steep it
overnight with a little salt for the ensuing morning's milk. It is thus
sure to be fresh and sweet, if the dried _maw_ be in good preservation.
But where it is customary to steep several skins at a time, and to
bottle the rennet for after-use, it is very necessary to saturate the
solution completely with salt, and to season it with spices, in order
that it may be preserved in a sweet and wholesome state.
The quantity of Rennet added.
This ought to be regulated as carefully as the temperature of the milk.
Too much renders the curd tough; too little causes the loss of much
time, and may permit a larger portion of the butter to separate itself
from the curd. It is to be expected also, that when rennet is used in
great excess, a portion of it will remain in the curd, and will
naturally affect the kind and rapidity of the changes it afterwards
undergoes. Thus, it is said to cause the cheese to heave or swell out
from fermentation. It is probable, also, that it will affect the flavor
which the cheese acquires by keeping. Thus it may be, that the agreeable
or unpleasant taste of the cheeses of certain districts or dairies may
be less due to the quality of the pastures or of the milk itself, than
to the quantity of rennet with which it has there been customary to
coagulate the milk.
The way in which the Rennet is made.
This, no less than its state of preservation and the quantity employed,
may also influence the flavor or other qualities of the cheese. For
instance, in the manufacture of a celebrated French cheese, that of
Epoisse, the rennet is prepared as follows:--Four fresh calf-skins, with
the curd they contain, are well washed in water, chopped into small
pieces, and digested in a mixture of 5 quarts of brandy with 15 of
water, adding at the same time 21/2 lbs. of salt, half an ounce of black
pepper, and a quarter of an ounce each of cloves and fennel seeds. At
the end of six weeks, the liquor is filtered and preserved in
well-corked bottles, while the membrane is put into salt-water to form a
new portion of rennet. For making rich cheeses, the rennet should always
be filtered clear.
On Mont d'Or, the rennet is made with white wine and vinegar. An ounce
of common salt is dissolved in a mixture of half a pint of vinegar with
21/2 pints of white wine, and in this solution a prepared goat's stomach
or _a piece of dried pig's bladder_ is steeped for a length of time. A
single spoonful of this rennet is said to be sufficient for 45 or 50
quarts of milk. No doubt the acid of the vinegar and of the wine aid the
coagulating power derived from the membrane.
The way in which the Curd is treated.
It is usual in our best cheese districts, carefully and slowly to
separate the curd from the whey, not to hasten the separation, lest a
larger portion of the fatty matter should be squeezed out of the curd,
and the cheese should thus be rendered poorer than usual. But in some
places, the practice prevails of washing the curd with hot water, after
the whey has been partially separated from it. Thus at Gouda in Holland,
after the greater part of the whey has been gradually removed, a
quantity of hot water is added, and allowed to remain upon it for at
least a quarter of an hour. The heat makes the cheese more solid and
causes it to keep better.
In Italy, the pear-shaped _caccio-cavallo_ cheeses and the round
_palloni_ cheeses of Gravina, in the Neapolitan territory, are made from
curd, which after being scalded with boiling whey, is cut into slices,
kneaded in boiling water, worked with the hand till it is perfectly
tenacious and elastic, and then made into shapes. The water in which the
curd is washed, after standing twenty-four hours, throws up much oily
matter, which is skimmed off and made into butter.
The Separation of the Whey
Is a part of the process, upon which the quality of the cheese in a
considerable degree depends. In Cheshire, more time and attention is
devoted to the perfect extraction of the whey than in almost any other
district. Indeed, when it is considered that the whey contains sugar and
lactic acid, which may undergo decomposition, and a quantity of rennet
which may bring on fermentation, by both of which processes the flavor
of the cheeses must be considerably affected, it will appear of great
importance that the whey should be as completely removed from the curd
as it can possibly be. To aid in effecting this, a curd-mill, for
chopping it fine after the whey is _strained_ off, is in use in many of
the large English dairies, and a very ingenious and effectual pneumatic
cheese-press for sucking out the whey, was lately invented.
But the way in which the whey is separated is not a matter of
indifference, and has much influence upon the quality of the cheese.
Thus, in Norfolk, according to Marshall, when the curd is fairly set,
the dairy-maid bares her arm, plunges it into the curd, and with the
help of her wooden ladle, breaks up minutely, and intimately mixes the
curd with the whey. This she does for ten or fifteen minutes, after
which the curd is allowed to subside, and the whey is drawn off. By this
agitation, the whey must carry off more of the butter and the cheese
must be poorer.
In Cheshire and Ayrshire, the curd is cut with a knife, but is gently
used and slowly pressed till it is dry enough to be chopped fine, and
thus more of the oily matter is retained. On the same principle, in
making the Stilton cheese, the curd is not cut or broken at all, but is
pressed gently and with care till the whey gradually drains out. Thus
the butter and the curd remain intermixed, and the rich cheese of
Stilton is the result. Thus, while it is of importance that all the whey
should be extracted from the curd, yet the quickest way may not be the
best. More time and care must be bestowed in order to effect this
object, the richer the cheese we wish to obtain.
The quality of the milk or of the pastures, may often be blamed for the
deficiencies in the richness or other qualities of cheese, which are in
reality due to slight but material differences in the mode of
manufacturing it.
_The kind of salt_ used, is considered by many to have some effect upon
the taste of the cheese. Thus the cheese of Gerome, in the Vosges, is
supposed to derive a peculiar taste from the Lorena salt with which it
is cured. In Holland, the efficacy of one kind of salt over another for
the curing of cheese is generally acknowledged.
The Mode in which the Salt is applied.
In making the large Cheshire cheeses, the dried curd, for a single
cheese of sixty pounds, is broken down fine and divided into three equal
portions. One of these is mingled with double the quantity of salt added
to the others, and this is so put into the cheese-vat as to form the
central part of the cheese. By this precaution, the after-salting on the
surface is sure to penetrate deep enough to cure effectually the less
salted parts.
In the counties of Gloucester and Somerset the curd is pressed without
salt, and the cheese, when formed, is made to absorb the whole of the
salt afterwards through its surface. This is found to answer well with
the small and thin cheeses made in those counties, but were it adopted
for the large cheeses of Cheshire and Dunlop, or even for the pine-apple
cheeses of Wiltshire, there can be no doubt that their quality would
frequently be injured. It may not be impossible to cause salt to
penetrate into the very heart of a large cheese, but it cannot be easy
in this way to salt the whole cheese equally, while the care and
attention required must be greatly increased.
Addition of Cream or Butter to the Curd.
Another mode of improving the quality of cheese, is by the addition of
cream or butter to the dried and crumbled curd. Much diligence, however,
is required fully to incorporate these, so that the cheese may be
uniform throughout. Still this practice gives a peculiar character to
the cheeses of certain districts. In Italy, they make a cheese _after
the manner of the English_, into which a considerable quantity of butter
is worked; and the _Reckem_ cheese of Belgium is made by adding half an
ounce of butter and the yolk of an _egg_, to every pound of pressed
curd.
Size of the Cheese.
From the same milk, it is obvious that cheeses of different sizes, if
treated in the same way, will, at the end of a given number of months,
possess qualities in a considerable degree different. Hence, without
supposing any inferiority, either in the milk or in the general mode of
treatment, the size usually adopted for the cheeses of a particular
district or dairy, may be the cause of a recognised inferiority in some
quality, which it is desirable that they should possess in a high
degree.
The Method of Curing.
This has very much influence upon the quality of the cheese. The care
with which they are salted, the warmth of the place in which they are
kept during the first two or three weeks, the temperature and closeness
of the cheese-room in which they are afterwards preserved, the frequency
of turning, of cleaning from mould, and rubbing with butter; all these
circumstances exercise a remarkable influence upon the after-qualities
of the cheese. Indeed, in very many instances, the high reputation of a
particular dairy district or dairy farm, is derived from some special
attention to some or to all of these apparently minor points.
In Tuscany, the cheeses, after being hung up for some time at a proper
distance from the fire, are put to ripen in an underground, cool, and
damp cellar; and the celebrated French cheeses of Roquefort, are
supposed to owe much of the peculiar estimation in which they are held,
to the cool and uniform temperature of the subterranean caverns in which
the inhabitants of the village have long been accustomed to preserve
them.
Ammoniacal Cheese.
The influence of the mode of curing, is shown very strikingly in the
small ammoniacal cheeses of Brie, which are very much esteemed in Paris.
They are soft unpressed cheeses, which are allowed to ripen in a room,
the temperature of which is kept between 60 deg. and 70 deg. Fahrenheit, till
they begin to undergo the putrefactive fermentation, and emit an
ammoniacal odor. They are generally unctuous, and sometimes so small as
not to weigh more than an ounce.
Inoculating Cheese.
It is said that a cheese, possessed of no very striking taste of its
own, may be inoculated with any flavor we approve, by putting into it
with a scoop a small portion of the cheese which we are desirous that
it should be made to resemble. Of course, this can apply only to cheeses
otherwise of equal richness, for we could scarcely expect to give a
Gloucester the flavor of a Stilton, by merely patting into it a small
portion of a rich and esteemed Stilton cheese. [_Johnston and various
other authorities._]
[Illustration: Fig. 19.
Cheese-Press.]
Fig. 19 is a _self-acting cheese-press_, light yet strong. The cheese
itself gives a pressure of twelve times its own weight; and if this is
insufficient, additional weight may be added as required.
The following statements were made by those receiving premiums from the
New York State Agricultural Society:
"Number of cows kept, eleven. Cheese made from two milkings, in the
English manner; no addition made of cream. For a cheese of twenty
pounds, a piece of rennet about two inches square is soaked about twelve
hours in one pint of water. As rennets differ much in quality, enough
should be used to coagulate the milk _sufficiently_ in about forty
minutes. No salt is put _into_ the cheese, nor any on the outside during
the first six or eight hours it is pressed; but a thin coat of fine
Liverpool salt is kept on the outside during the remainder of the time
it remains in press. The cheeses are pressed forty-eight hours, under a
weight of seven or eight cwt. Nothing more is required but to turn the
cheeses once a day on the shelves."
"The milk is strained in large tubs over night; the cream stirred in
milk, and in the morning strained in same tub; milk heated to natural
heat; add color and rennet; curd broke fine and whey off, and broke fine
in hoop with fast bottom, and put in strainer; pressed twelve hours;
then taken from hoop, and salt rubbed on the surface; then put in hoop,
without strainer, and pressed forty-eight hours; then put on tables, and
salt rubbed on surface, and remain in salt six days, for cheese weighing
thirty pounds. The hoops to have holes in the bottom; the crushings are
saved, and set, and churned, to grease the cheese. The above method is
for making one cheese per day. As in butter-making, the utmost
cleanliness is required in every part of the cheese-making premises."