George E. Newell

“ We are better equipped, because we have more scientific appliances for handling milk. Our milk is better, because the pastures are improved, and a finer grade of stock feeds upon them. Makers of to-day who rely on the accumulated cheese wisdom handed down through two decades of experience should be rich enough in knowledge to at least not retrograde from the standard of 1868. Let us for one moment lay reform in the tariff, and reform in the civil service on the table and talk, think, and act about reform in cheese. Michigan always takes a front seat when reformation of any kind is agitated. ”

“ The question arises, "How far must a cheese maker probe into the hidden mysteries that shroud the digestive assimilation of the product he manufactures?" We answer that he cannot probe too deeply or extend his researches too far into the minute. There are too many makers now with only a superficial knowledge of their craft, and before there can be any perceptible elevation of quality in American cheese the shoes of these novices must be filled by such men as we now term "experts." Take, for example, the subject of acid which we are here discussing. ”

“ Dairies associated together under factory regime facilitated such an easy and quick disposal of one's milk, and at such a greatly enhanced profit, that the obvious convenience and economy of the new order of things, more than any inimical characteristic it possessed, pulled down the one and set up the other. It matters not, though, to consumers in America or England, whether the cheese they eat is made under the roof of a farm house on a small scale, or in a mammoth factory on a large one, provided the quality is good. ”

“ Prominent English cheese judges have passed verdicts on fine cheese in the following words: "We want cheese rich, solid, fine flavored, true colored, that is, of an even color throughout, sound, handsome, that will go on to improve for twelve months or longer if desired." "A good cheese is close and firm in texture, yet mellow; in character or quality it is rich with a tendency to melt in the mouth; the flavor full and fine, apparently that of a hazel-nut." "The characteristics of a good cheese are mellow and rich in taste and flavor, and firm and full in texture, solid but not tough." ”

“ This little work on cheese manufacture is inscribed to makers, dealers and consumers, in the hope that its careful perusal may be of aid to one and all. The prestige that American cheese holds in the markets of the world has been threatened from many quarters, but we who inaugurated the Cheddar system on this side of the Atlantic are not prepared to succumb to competition, however sharp, or to prejudice, however strong. American cheese will hold its own as long as it has a square quality basis to stand upon. We possess the most natural and privileged dairy regions on earth. ”

“ Look only to the quality of your cheese and let the ratio take care of itself. No matter if it takes eleven or twelve pounds of milk to produce a pound of cheese, provided that cheese is gilt-edged in every particular. Use nothing but first-class material, from the rennet, coloring matter, and salt that goes into the cheese, to the scale board and the box that covers it. Let the foreign demand wane if it wants to—we know how to relish good cheese here at home just as well as our English brothers, and, in the future, we are going to consume more of the product per capita, too. ”

“ Making good cheese out of poor milk is much talked of by makers and considered quite an accomplishment. It consists in clothing the product in a glamour of deception, propagating dyspepsia and shielding careless dairymen. ”

“ If you do not stir your curd sufficiently in heating, the quality of your goods is at stake, and if you do not stir judiciously, or stir too often and too harshly, your milk ratio is in jeopardy. By exercising good judgment, care and caution you can avoid the two extremes and make each danger your willing servant. If your milk on the start is sweet and pure, allow the heat to go up slowly until it touches the desired point. ”

“ A gentleman of long experience in the trade has said: "The truth is, as it is difficult to cure cheese in cold weather, it ought to be cooked more than will answer in hot weather, and sour less, as the tendency is to acidulation in a cool atmosphere, in consequence of the moisture not drying out soon enough." To this we can append the suggestion of never trying to cure a cheese in a cool atmosphere, for the result will be a failure. A cheese cannot help but grow old in a cold room but it will never cure. ”

“ Many think that as soon as the hot days are passed the need of an advanced curd maturity is passed also, and make almost sweet cheese. If there is any thing that is fraught with dire consequences in cheese making, it is extremes practiced in the modus operandi. Avoid anything so derogatory and let conservatism characterize your movements. Despite seasons and weather, and climate, we have got to apply just so much acid to cheese to make it palatable and mellow, and if the product is liable to encounter crucial weather enough more sourness to retain the flavor established is imperative. ”

“ A maker who can preceive it only as it is revealed by stringing on the iron is not competent to be in charge of a factory, for anybody could detect it there. The development of lactic acid is a species of fermentation induced by the spontaneous increase of inherent minute bacteria. It takes the same experience to perceive and govern it in milk and cheese as it does practice with square and compass to become a carpenter. We cannot tell you all about it—it will take many days of careful observation and fine testing to understand its nature enough to make it your servant in the cheese making art. ”

“ No cheese maker is fit for duty unless he can diagnose the condition of a vat of milk on a quick examination. The natural odor of pure milk has a peculiar animal smell, whose nature can be acquired by careful olfactory tests indulged in as the student draws the fluid from the cow's teats. After an apprentice at the business can tell pure, sweet, untainted milk in any spot or place, he must learn to distinguish between that which is tainted and that which is verging on the sour. ”

“ Milk as a fluid is highly sensitive to unclean odors, and when it absorbs them in a greater or less degree, the maker should, by an olfactory test, discover the taint. Milk that has been tainted by a retention of the animal heat, not having been cooled when freshly drawn, will give off a rank, burned smell, nauseous in the extreme. If the taint was absorbed from odors, the peculiar scent of the particular stench will be indelibly impressed on the fluid. Mature or sour milk is more to be desired for cheese manufacture than milk poisoned by taint. ”

“ With the present bettered quality of milk and the improved skill of makers in handling it, inflative cheese ought to now be foreign to the curing room. Bad taints are at present seldom met with, but slight ones creep in unawares, unless the maker is vigilant, and then it is his business to eradicate the ill-savor. Sour until acid has completely overcome the gas, grind twice, and give the curd a prolonged airing by frequent stirring. Try the prolonged stirring on common curds that are hot—too hot to go immediately to press—and notice how it will enhance the flavor of the cheese. ”

“ See that every day's curd—the product of milk in all stages of maturity—does not part with the whey until it is cooked to a state of contractibility in which the cubes will separate by expansion after pressure by squeezing in the hand. No maker considers his bread free from rawness until it has received a certain amount of heat in the oven, and no cheese maker can expect to get a mellow, firm cheese unless he cooks his curd as above described. By using the smallest amount of heat possible to cook curd within a reasonable time, a finer quality of cheese is secured and a better yield. ”

“ Cheese makers should not be too much wedded to fixed rules. For instance, do not always hold curd in the whey until it shows a quarter of an inch of acid by the iron simply because it may be a rule. Let your judgment rise supreme over all rules. Frequently, through the summer there are cool nights when the milk keeps so sweet that the next day no acid will show by the time you have the curd thoroughly cooked. At such times, as an experiment, draw off the whey sweet and let the curd develop acid in the pack. ”

“ It is a maxim of cheese making that you must work milk according to its condition, not expecting one invariable rule to cover the whole science, but keeping in mind numberless distinct methods of treatment, for instant application as exigencies arise. ”

“ In weighing patrons' milk at the factory, the scales should be balanced down and up weight taken. To the uninitiated this might at first seem an injustice, but a little experience will soon show that it is imperatively necessary. The dealers to whom the cheese are consigned exact stiff up weight, and if the same is not taken at the milk delivery window, woe be to the ratio. As all patirons are served alike in the premises, no loss or injustice accrues to any one and the maker is in a position to deal as he is being dealt with. ”

“ Intelligence, skilled labor, and ingenuity are at command and should so leaven the products of our dairies that they should stand above all competitors. Then, why be "Penny wise and pound foolish," when so grand a prize as national trade reputation is at stake? Cheese manufacturers, employ only the most experienced and careful help obtainable, and be willing to pay them liberally for their services. ”

“ There has probably not been such a tendency in this State as in other localities to rob milk at both ends and on the sides before it is suffered to coagulate in cheese, but let us smother what infection there is before it becomes an established blight on the Wolverine product. We are satisfied that our dairymen are alive to their interests here, and will not drift away from safe anchorage. A shipping cheese requires more body, or, in other words, more acid and firmness than a cheese designed for home consumption. ”

“ A cheese may be turned out of the hoop the acme of perfection in every detail of manufacture, and yet subsequently be damaged partly or wholly ruined by inhabiting a faulty curing apartment. The curing room should not be in a loft, or above the make-room. It should be on the ground floor, and for convenience it should open direct from the make-room, the door being easy of access to the press. The partition between the two rooms must be impervious to the steam arising from the cheese vats, as the animal vapor is detrimental to the maturing product on the shelves. ”

“ In fact, a slight maturity of milk is necessary—or, at least, desirable—to produce a fine cheese, the same as mature cream is required to develop good butter, only in the former the “ripeness” must be scarcely perceptible, while in the latter it must be well advanced. All tainted milk, and all milk that is “old” and nearly sour, should be unconditionally rejected at the cheese factory for manufacture. Do not be afraid of financially losing by such a rule. It is none too stringent, and in the end it will give your goods a trade reputation that will be secure and impregnable. ”

“ This month avoid cold draughts through the make-room during the scalding process, as a vat presents a large surface for a current of air to exert a chilling effect upon. Be sure and cook the curd enough. There is a vast amount of fall made cheese that comes to grief through insufficient scalding. If you do not bake a loaf of bread thoroughly, you have a doughy and unpalatable article of food, and if curd is not cooked until it has passed the raw state, it will retain a certain quantity of whey and damage the product on the shelves. ”

“ A good cheese is rich without being greasy, with a sweet, nutty flavor, clear and equal color throughout, and of a compact, solid texture, without being waxy; firm, and yet melts easily in the mouth, leaving no rough or ill flavor on the palate. ”

“ Floating curd emanates from the rankest known species of tainted milk. The curd is surfeited with offensive, poisonous gas, that holds in check the acid and will inhabit the curd until its life has died out. All the cheese maker can do is to wait patiently until its existence has ended and the curd, ceasing to be inflative, develops acid. Then grind and salt the usual amount, airing by thorough stirring for an hour or more, with doors and windows open, to expel the taint. ”

“ Then it must be hastily drawn and hastily salted, with the whey not all out of it; too often the acid is in advance of the maker’s expectations. Cheese made in this way from day to day cannot help but be uneven in flavor, in salt and in acid. “Salting in the whey,” as it is called, without a mill is wasteful, too. As the whey flows off, the constant tendency of the curd is to pack, and hand manipulation to prevent this will start white whey, the life blood of the cheese, in wasteful quantities. ”

“ It is said that Englishmen eat twelve pounds of cheese per capita a year, while Americans eat three pounds. Cheese consumption is, however, on the increase here, as the healthy and nutritive qualities of the product are more and more appreciated. One of the most serious drawbacks to universal cheese consumption is the large profits exacted by middlemen when they dispense it to the public. If cheese could be had at the grocery for 9 or 10 cents per pound instead of 14 or 15 cents, it would be found in abundance on the poor man's table, and a heavy decrease in the export trade would result. ”

“ A great many readers who live in non-cheese manufacturing districts appreciate mellow, rich cheese when they sometimes at long intervals find it on their groceryman's counter, and vow that they would eat the article more if the price was cheapened and the general quality raised. You should, if you live a hundred miles or so from any factory, and if you have a few cows and your neighbor has a few more, club together and make up some cheese for your own use. ”

“ The quotient will be the net price of one hundred pounds of milk. Multiply each patron's separate amount of milk by this price per hundred pounds, and the product will be the net monied income on that sale or sales for the patron. In getting the price of a pound of milk it is seldom necessary to carry decimally beyond mills. In a measure, the work all proves itself, for, if, by adding together the face value of each patron's check, the amount does not agree with the cheese returns, less making, your figuring will need a review. ”

“ All this time the whey is percolating from the blocks and they are shrinking in size and becoming of tougher texture. As soon as the curd begins to assume a slightly elastic consistency begin operations with a rake. If you have an idea that curd wants to be stirred all of the time through the scalding period, at once disabuse your mind of it. Such a notion is antediluvian in its conception and disastrous in its results, but, strange to say, it is the predominating feature of the know-it-all young maker's knowledge. Novices at the business are sure to stir too often and too violently. ”