Cheese-making

“ It is to unite these globules and separate them from the whey that is the primary function of cheese making. It so happens that rennet, the active agent in this process, besides exerting an automatic, chemical action on milk, imparts to the solids new and vigorous properties that give cheese a medicinal value to the human stomach, namely, an inceptor of digestion. It is imperative that a cheese maker understands enough about milk to instantly detect the slightest change from its sweet, pure, normal condition. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Even as late as a generation or two ago cheese of different kinds was made at home for family use, as sour-milk or cottage cheese still is, and cheese making was very generally a farm industry, cheese, like butter, being sold by the farmer who made it. Cottage cheese is very commonly homemade. Most types of cheese, however, are now as a rule made on a large scale in factories where advantage may be taken of labor-saving devices. ”

“ Concluding Remarks.—It is surprising that cheese is not more frequently made an article of domestic manufacture, especially by housewives resident in the country. The operations of cheese-making are all exceedingly simple, and not laborious, and will, in most cases, amply repay the outlay for the milk. Besides, cheese is not unfrequently coloured with stains and pigments which are injurious, and even poisonous, the risk of taking which is not encountered when it is made at home. Several persons have nearly lost their lives from eating cheese coloured with annotta, for instance. ”

“ The loss of moisture in cold curing was very much less, resulting in diminished loss from shrinkage; moreover, the cheese can be held a long time at low temperatures without impairment of quality. These investigations will tend to revolutionize cheese making in several respects, by furnishing a scientific basis for it in place of the purely empirical rules and traditions which formerly prevailed, and will simplify the process, rendering possible a more uniform product of improved quality. ”

“ One would hardly think of associating cheese-making with the fine arts; yet, in what other light can we view the subject of color? It adds nothing to the quality of the cheese, but rather detracts from it. It is expensive and troublesome, and grows more so every year, as the demand for annotto runs up the price and leads to adulteration. But as long as we make cheese for a foreign market, we must adapt our goods to the tastes of that market, whether they be physical or mental. Our home market would, perhaps, not suffer from the omission of color ”

“ There is much to be discovered and learned about cheese-making. Those who have worked at the business for years, without material progress, are not as likely to make important discoveries or improvements as those who now or may hereafter come to a knowledge of the subject with fresh minds and faculties newly stimulated. They will begin where the old cheese-makers leave off, and ought to be able to make advances in the work thus far developed by their predecessors. ”

“ Some think age makes the milk all the better for cheese-making, and we believe it is generally understood that milk fresh from the cow does not work quite satisfactorily. However, we place no great stress on this opinion. Old milk will work quicker than new milk; the acid will develop sooner to the point desired by the cheese-maker, and this saving of time doubtless has something to do with the decision in favor of age in milk for the purpose of cheese-making. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It differs from many industries in that the factories are almost always located in the country or in the smaller towns rather than in large cities, this being more true of cheese making than of the manufacture of potted cheeses or other special articles, which has become a large industry. It is worthy of mention in this connection that the making of cheese crackers and other bakers’ goods in which cheese is an ingredient has developed into an important part of the baking trade. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Cheese-making has been transferred bodily from the domain of domestic arts to that of manufactures. In the middle of the 19th century about 100,000,000 ℔ of cheese was made yearly in the United States, and all of it in farm dairies. At the beginning of the 20th century the annual production was about 300,000,000 ℔, and 96 or 97% of this was made in factories. ”

“ 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. That is why makers without practical experience are always incompetent. Hold curd in the whey until it shows at least a quarter of an inch of acid by the hot iron and then draw off whey as quickly as possible. ”

“ Such an invention will greatly improve the quality and increase the consumption and price of American cheese. But, in the absence of anything better, the can set in a tub of water and the milk frequently stirred, would be a great improvement on starting for the factory with hot milk. If the water can be made to constantly run into the tub, fresh and cool, as the warm water runs out, so much the better. ”

“ Work the coloring into the fluid with the same gentleness with which you have heretofore manipulated it while raising the temperature. When the milk is all of one even, yellow tinge, attesting that the annotto is represented equally in every part, it is ready for the real inceptor of cheese, rennet. The tendency of modern cheese making is toward quick coagulation of milk. The larger infusion of rennet necessary for this purpose begets cheese that can be quickly cured for a market where they are expected to be soon consumed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ We know of no way to make good cheese out of tainted milk, and have had comparatively little experience with it—though quite as much as we desire. But from our own knowledge and what we can learn from the experience of others, if we had a tainted mess of milk to work up, we should heat it up as soon as possible, cut the curd fine, cook it thoroughly and develop the acid as much as we thought the curd would bear and stick together so as to bandage well. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The curd for the pine-apple cheese is prepared in the same way as the others; but, instead of being put into a vat and then into the cheese-press, it is put into a net with no other pressure than from the hand of the dairy-maid; who, however, prides herself on getting as much into the net as it can possibly hold. The net is then hung up in the cheese-room, and requires no further care.
I shall now give you only one more receipt for making keeping-cheeses, and that shall be for the far-famed Parmesan. This celebrated cheese is made with skim-milk. ”

“ When cooled sufficiently to begin to thicken somewhat, a little salt sprinkled on the surface and thoroughly stirred in, as the farmers' wives sometimes salt their lard, will help prevent it from getting rancid [Pg 97] and stinking. Set it in a cool place, and keep it covered tightly. Near the close of the fall's operations, a nice tub of whey butter should be thus prepared and set by for use the next spring—for, in the cold spring weather, when cheese-making first commences, very little cream will rise on the whey-vat, and it will take some time before a batch can be procured. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Fall made cheese that are expected to be consumed during the winter months should be strengthened for age by coagulation in from fifteen to eighteen minutes. When we are dealing with the average spring and summer make, trade demands more perishable stock and we must cater to it. If you do not know the strength of your rennet and you want the milk to thicken in eight or nine minutes, as it should do, previously test the lactic juice by putting a teaspoonful into a tumbler of milk kept warm at 85°. ”

“ A cheese factory needs good, improved utensils, just the same as a farm requires machinery of the latest patterns. It should have a boiler, because steam heating is cheaper, more under control and, consequently, safer for scalding than where fire under heating is employed. It should be furnished with a curd mill, because with one the maker has the acid almost completely under control. Without a mill, the whey must be retained until nearly enough acid has developed to meet the requisite gauge. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If the spot is near the edge, a wedge-shaped piece may be cut out, and a piece of another cheese—there is usually one cut for patrons of a factory—can be fitted in, a second bandage drawn over, and the cheese slipped into a hoop, when a little pressing will smooth down all roughness and heal all scars.
Some put cayenne pepper in whey-butter used for greasing cheeses. But, though it may help keep flies off, it will not prevent trouble. They will work their way wherever there is a chance for them. Dryness, cleanliness and watchful care, are the only sure preventives of skippers, in hot weather. ”