T. D. Curtis

“ But, in an old factory, where everything started off badly, the old adage, that "it is hard to learn old dogs new tricks," is apt to be exemplified. They dislike innovations, think a new man, who wants to be particular, wishes to put them to useless trouble, and they are not disposed to gratify him, but rather to growl at him, and feel that what was good enough for others is good enough for him. ”

“ Now, what has the cheese-maker got on his hands, some sweltering morning, during the season when it is "too hot to make butter," and people kindly draw their dairy liquids to the cheese-factory? Why, on rising in the morning and rubbing open his eyes, he breaks the cream on his milk. The under surface has a sickish, sour smell, which tells him very plainly that it cannot be worked up too soon. ”

“ A curing-room should not only be kept at an equable temperature of 70° to 80°, but be well ventilated. The gases constantly emitted by the curing process should have a chance to freely escape and leave the atmosphere as pure and sweet as possible. There is no more sense in supposing that a cheese can cure properly and have a clean, wholesome flavor, if kept in a close, unventilated room, than that a human being can retain his health in impure air. ”

“ It is not yet quite so universally admitted that generous feeding is equally advantageous, nor that a warm stable is as much an advance on an open, cold one, where the cows stand and shiver throughout the twenty-four hours, as a common shelter is an improvement on no shelter. Yet, a warm stable, which may be had for a small expense, is decided economy, in the saving of food, as well as a comfort to the cows; and generous feeding will be found a profitable investment, both by the increased flow of milk and by its increased richness. ”

“ The importance of delivering milk in good condition is more and more acknowledged every year, and not a few patrons pride themselves on delivering as good milk as any of their neighbors. It is well to encourage this feeling by giving every man credit who takes pains with his milk. Nothing is worse than wholesale denunciation and fault finding. It only discourages many, creates bad feeling, and makes an up-hill road a rough one as well. A cheese-maker needs friends, if anybody does; and if he does not get them among his patrons, he is not likely to get them at all. ”

“ Every cheese-maker has felt the want of some test whereby the exact point, when a curd is sufficiently "done" to dip, can be determined with certainty. Neither the sense of smell, the sense of taste, nor the sense of touch is infallible. The evidence of this fact can be seen in any factory during the season of cheese-making. A simple test of acidity, which is claimed to be conclusive, is the application of a hot iron to a lump of curd. The iron wants to be searing hot—not red hot, but hot enough to toast cheese. ”

“ If we must have a curd dipped soft at any season of the year, we say let it be at that season when the weather is best for drying and curing. A cheese that would become worthless on the ranges in cold, wet weather, may turn out pretty fair in "dog days." But we do not believe in undercooking at any time. Food, of all kinds, needs as much cooking one season of the year as another. It is quite likely, however, that a degree or two lower heat will answer in cool weather, for the reason that milk keeps better then, and the curd remains longer in the scald before taking on acid. ”

“ There is no part of the process of making up milk and getting the product ready for market which requires more care and judgment, as well as some hard work, than curing. Few rooms are properly prepared for the purpose. They are left too open and barn-like, with no means of controlling the temperature. Factorymen generally seem to think that if the cheese is only made and put on the ranges, there is little or no need of making any further provision. We have seen cheese, which we believe had deteriorated from one to two cents a pound in value, because the curing process had not gone on properly. ”

“ It is a well established fact that digestion will not go on when the temperature of the stomach is below that of blood-heat. We presume a much higher temperature is equally detrimental. This may account for the fact that blood-heat is the best for cheese-making, as at that temperature the rennet is most active. Be this as it may, we are satisfied that the process is retarded and the curd deteriorated by allowing the temperature to fall during the time it is in the scald. Instead of cooking, and condensing, as it should, in order to expel the whey, it is only soaking and souring. ”

“ Leeks are not the only weeds which taint the milk before it is taken from the cow. All rank vegetable growths lend a similar influence to injure flavor. Indeed, that which the cow eats is what she makes the milk of, and if these offensive things are taken into her system, she cannot be expected to turn out milk that will not partake of their qualities, any more than a man can be expected to make sweet cider of sour apples by running them through the mill and press. Even the atmosphere which the cows breathe affects the flavor of the milk. ”

“ It seems to us that, though this might check taint for the time being, it would hasten it when the cheese warmed up in curing, as butter or meat will spoil rapidly after having come in contact with ice, if exposed to the atmosphere.
Prime cheese never can be made of bad milk. But, if milk is not too badly tainted, a mess managed on the principles we have indicated will make a fair cheese—one that will suit many palates. A curd made of sour milk may be improved by washing out some of the acid by the use of warm water. With such a curd, extra cooking is an important point ”

“ Certain it is that the stomach of a calf that never sucked the cow is not worth much in cheese-making. It is both small and weak. It seems to be necessary that the process of digestion should go on for a while, at least, that all the functions of the animal may become active and a full secretion of gastric juice take place. Some are of the opinion that the rennet is best when the calf is from three to five days old, as at that age it is not likely to have taken anything but milk into its stomach, which is best prepared for digesting that kind of food, the first process of which is coagulation. ”

“ If you do not wish to take the mess, you can express your regrets at his misfortune, and show him that it would cause great damage, some of which must necessarily fall on himself. If the mess is objectionable, but will pass, give him notice that you will be obliged to refuse it in future, if not in a better condition. When you have done this, more words with him are unnecessary, and you have all the advantage, for the law and the community are on your side. But, with a reasonable man, it will not be necessary to more than call his attention to the fact that his milk is bad. ”

“ It is not claimed that they exhaust the several questions discussed; but it is believed that they constitute the most practical treatise on cheese-making that has yet appeared, and that they embrace the leading features and indicate the more advanced methods of the art as practiced by the best manufacturers. Every experienced cheese-maker may find something in them to object to and criticise, as there is diversity of opinion on many, as yet, not definitely settled questions. ”

“ A thorough stirring of the whole mass, therefore, will keep the cream more equally distributed, and it will also secure a greater uniformity of temperature. The cheese must be of evener texture than if made of curd of different degrees of richness mixed together.
It is a question for debate as to whether the cream which rises on milk is thoroughly incorporated with it by stirring. That butter is wasted in making cheese, is a fact that cannot be denied. Some think that nearly all the cream that rises on the vat during the night is floated off in the whey. ”

“ It is no fault of the cheese-maker, because he can't help it, if he employs a hand constantly on these abominable tubes. He may use a swab with strong ley, or salt and water, or both, and run hot water through the tubes till the patrons begin to come with their milk, but the "damned spots" will not "out." Of course, he will somewhat neutralize their active properties as ferments, but he does not altogether get rid of them. The only way in which he can do it, is to pitch the nasty things out of the window. ”

“ The man who has a well-selected dairy, keeps it well, and delivers milk that will turn out, for the season, a hundred pounds of cheese for every nine hundred pounds of milk, gets no more returns for a given number of pounds of milk than the man who delivers milk so poor that twelve hundred pounds of it will not make more than a hundred pounds of cheese, or the same as the former's nine hundred pounds. ”

“ Drying on a stick or a hoop is the common way, and answers the purpose very well. The only trouble is to find a place both dry and cool. It is generally conceded, we believe, that heat injures the strength of the rennet. Hence the importance of curing it in a cool place. Freezing is thought by many to add to or develop the strength of the rennet. Be this as it may, [Pg 57] old rennets, that have hang up in the dry-house or some other convenient place through the winter, will go much further in cheese-making than new rennets. ”

“ If the cheese does not prove of the first quality, every patron who furnishes him stinking milk will have strong suspicions that he does not understand his business! And some even insist that the cheese-maker shall pay for all the poor cheese! ”

“ Of course, in weighing milk, only the full pounds can be counted and credited, the fractions going to make up full weight. As quick weight is demanded in selling cheese, milk when received should be weighed in the same way. This is fair, and ought to be satisfactory to all. But whether quick or slow weight is given, let it be honest. In the long run, "honesty is the best policy" in weighing milk as well as in other transactions; and, in this case, it is absolutely essential to justice. A little deduction or variation on a single mess, is of small consequence ”

“ Many owners of factories, however, are too penurious to spend a few dollars in order to get rid of this nuisance of long tin conductors. They would rather lose—or, at least, run the risk of losing—five hundred dollars on the sale of their cheese, than spend five dollars for the purpose of avoiding this fruitful source of taint. If the cheese is poor, the blame can be laid on the cheese-maker; or, if the taint is too manifest in the vat of milk or curd, it can be charged upon the carelessness of the patrons. ”

“ One of the most important elements in cheese-making is heat; but we do not believe the importance of its proper regulation is sufficiently understood by our cheese-makers. We are aware that cheese can be made without the use of artificial heat. It is not such an article, however, as would meet with a ready sale, or be likely to increase the consumptive demand for cheese. A good-keeping, mild and nutty-flavored cheese cannot readily be produced, if at all, with a temperature lower than 96°; nor can a rich, buttery article be made with a temperature over 102°. ”

“ One person pours a portion of this hot whey over the curd, while another stirs actively beneath the stream with a shovel-breaker. The hot whey is poured cautiously over the mass at intervals, and the stirring is kept up gently but briskly, until the temperature is raised gradually to 98° or 100° Fah. The stirring is continued, and the temperature maintained, until the curd acquires a certain degree of firmness and consistency, which it is difficult to describe, but which the intelligent cheese-maker soon learns to recognize by its appearance, and by its peculiarly elastic feel when handled. ”

“ The development of the acid is absolutely necessary to secure good keeping qualities and a mild, clean flavor. Dip a curd before the whey has become perceptibly acid, or is on the verge of "changing," and we think that a rank, bitter flavor will be sure to follow. The absence of sufficient lactic acid leaves the albumen in a condition likely to decompose, while the butyric acid develops itself, as in rancid butter, and the two combine to make a very unpalatable flavor to one nice about the taste of his cheese. Some prefer strong cheese. ”

“ A pressed iron dish with a handle riveted on, is handy for melting the grease. There is no danger of melting out the bottom, or melting off the handle, and you are less liable to burn yourself or spill your grease than you are if you melt the whey butter in an old basin, which very soon gets burnt and leaky.
Little conveniences, like the iron dish and brush we have mentioned, help a great deal, in the course of a season, about cheese-making; and a cheese-maker had better furnish them at his own expense, if his employers are too stingy to do it, than not to have them. ”

“ The color will also be paler than in those that are properly cooked, the general look will be clammy, and no rind will form that will be satisfactory. Even when well-cooked and well-made, if a cheese does not have sufficient warmth, it will sour on the ranges and spoil; and it stands to reason that cheese made from a curd insufficiently cooked must work a great deal worse under unfavorable conditions for curing. Our experience is, that a curd needs more cooking in the spring and fall than will answer in hot, dry weather. ”

“ It will be found, we think, that bad wintering and poor pastures have as much or more to do than anything else with the production of poor milk. No breed of cows nor selection of a dairy can wholly counteract these evils. The yield of milk will undoubtedly be greater and better with some cows than with others; and so with naturally good cows, good wintering and pasturing will show quite as marked improvements.
We have in our mind an instance where, at the opening of a cheese-factory, only a few of the farmers, having the largest dairies, delivered milk. ”

“ The greatest difficulty is usually experienced in old factories, where the conveniences are not generally up to the more modern mark, and patrons fell into bad habits before experience had developed a better knowledge of the requirements of cheese-making. New patrons will submit to be trained, and a sensible cheese-maker, who knows what he wants, can generally get them to do almost anything at the opening of a new factory. In this way, he can discipline them and get them in the habit of taking good care of their milk. ”