Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 27 - CHI-ELD.pdf/389

 CHEESE AND CHEESE-MAKING.]

D A I R Y-F ARMING

with this I do not think that the whey will come away so freely by heavy pressing at first. We advise three days’ pressing before cheese is taken to the curing-room. All cheese should have a bath in water at a temperature of 120° next morning after being made, so as to form a good skin to prevent cracking or chipping. The temperature of the curing-room should be kept as near 60° as possible at all seasons of the year, and I think it a good plan to ventilate while heating. ” With regard to the hot-iron test for acidity, Mr F. J. Lloyd, in describing his investigations on behalf of the Bath and West of England Society, states that cheese-makers have long known that in both the manufacture and the ripening of cheese the acidity produced—known to the chemist as “ lactic acid ”—materially influences the results obtained, and that amongst other drawbacks to the test referred to is the uncertainty of the temperature of the iron itself. He gives an account,1 however, of a chemical method involving the use of a standard solution of an alkali (soda), and of a substance termed an “ indicator ” (phenolphthalein), which changes colour according to whether a solution is acid or alkaline. The apparatus used with these reagents is called the acidimeter. The two stages in the manufacture of a Cheddar cheese most difficult to determine empirically are (1) when to stop stirring and to draw the whey, and (2) when to grind the curd. The introduction of the acidimeter has done away with these difficulties; and though the use of this apparatus is not actually a condition essential to the manufacture of a good cheese, it is to many makers a necessity and to all an advantage. By its use the cheese-maker can determine the acidity of the whey, and so decide when to draw the latter off, and will thus secure not only the proper development of acidity in the subsequent changes of cheesemaking, but also materially diminish the time which the cheese takes to make. Furthermore, it has been proved that the acidity of the whey which drains from the curd when in the cooler is a sufficiently accurate guide to the condition of the curd before grinding; and by securing uniformity in this acidity the maker will also ensure uniformity in the quality and ripening properties of the cheese. Speaking generally, the acidity of the liquid from the press should never fall below O80 per cent, nor rise above L20 per cent., and the nearer it can be kept to 1-00 per cent, the better. Simultaneously, of course, strict attention must be paid to temperature, time, and every other factor which can be accurately determined. Analyses of large numbers of Cheddar cheeses manufactured in every month of the cheese-making season show the average composition of ripe specimens to be—water, SS’SS per cent.; fat, 31 AS; casein, 29T2; mineral matter or ash, 3‘9 7. It has been maintained that in the ripening of Cheddar cheese fat is formed out of the curd, but a comparison of analyses of ripe cheeses with analyses of the curd from which the cheeses were made affords no evidence that this is the case. The quantity of milk required to make 1 lb of Cheddar cheese may be learnt from Table X., which shows the results obtained at the cheese school of the Bath and West of England Society in the two seasons of 1899 and 1900. The cheese was sold at an average age of ten to twelve weeks. In 1899 a total of 21,220 gallons of milk yielded 20,537 lb of saleable cheese, and in 1900, 31,808 gallons yielded 29,631 lb. In the two years together 53,028 gallons yielded 50,168 lb, which is equivalent to 1‘05 gallon of milk to 1 lb of cheese. For practical purposes it may be taken that one gallon, or slightly over 10 lb, of milk yields 1 lb of pressed cheese. The prices obtained are added as a matter of interest. Cheshire cheese is largely made in the county from 1

Report on Cheddar Cheese-Making, London, 1899.

353

which it takes its name, and in adjoining districts. It is extensively consumed in Manchester and Liverpool, and other parts of the densely populated county of Lancaster. Table X. Quantities of Milk employed and of Cheese produced in the Manufacture of Cheddar Cheese. Green Saleable Milk. Cheese. Cheese. 1899. lb galls. lb April 3077 3100 2924 May 4462 4502 4257 June 4316 4434 4141 July 3699 3785 3545 August 2495 2539 2353 Sept, and Oct. 3171 3583 3317 1900. April 3651 3505 3292 May 6027 6048 5577 June 5960 5889 5466 July and Aug. 7227 7177 6630 Sept, and Oct. 8943 9635 8666 When Made.

Shrinkage.

Price.

6 per cent. 63 lb per cvvt. 7 lb 6 oz. per cwt. 7 lb 2 oz. per cwt. 8 lb 3 oz. per cwt. 8 lb 5 oz. per cwt.

perewt, 60s. 63s. 70s. 74s. 74s. 74s.

6 per cent. 7| per cent. 71 per cent.

63s. 64s. 68s. 66s. 66s.

The following is a description of the making of Cheshire cheese:— The evening’s milk is set a [art until the following morning, when the cream is skimmed off. The latter is poured into a pan which has been heated by being placed in the boiling water of a boiler. The new milk obtained early in the morning is poured into the vessel containing the previous evening’s milk with the warmed cream, and the temperature of the mixture is brought to about /5 F. Into the vessel is introduced a piece of rennet, which has been kept in warm water since the preceding evening, and in which a little Spanish annatto (a quarter of an ounce is enough for a cheese of 60 lb) is dissolved. (Marigolds, boiled in milk, are occasionally used for colouring cheese, to which they likewise impart a pleasant flavour. In winter, carrots scraped and boiled in milk, and afterwards strained, will produce a richer colour; but they should be used with moderation, on account of their taste.) The whole is now stirred together, and covered up warm for about an hour, or until it becomes curdled ; it is then turned over with a bowl and broken very small. After standing a little time, the whey is drawn from it, and as soon as the curd becomes somewhat more solid it is cut into slices and turned over repeatedly, the better to press out the whey. The curd is then removed from the tub, broken by hand or cut by a curd-breaker into small pieces, and put into a cheese vat, where it is strongly pressed both by hand and with weights, in order to extract the remaining whey. After this it is transferred to another vat, or into the same if it has in the meantime been well scalded, where a similar process of breaking and expressing is repeated, until all the whey is forced from it. The cheese is now turned info a third vat, previously warmed, with a cloth beneath it, and a thin hoop or hinder put round the upper edge of the cheese and within the sides of the vat, the cheese itself being previously enclosed in a clean cloth, and its edges placed within the vat, before transfer to the cheese-oven. These various processes occupy about six hours, and eight more are requisite for pressing the cheese, under a weight of 14 or 15 cwt. The cheese during that time should be twice turned in the vat. Holes are bored in the yat which contains the cheese, and also in the cover of it, to facilitate the extraction of every drop of whey. The pressure being continued, the cheese is at length taken from the vat as a firm and solid mass. On the following morning and evening it must be again turned and pressed ; and also on the third day, about the middle of which it should be removed to the salting chamber, where the outside is well rubbed with salt, and a cloth binder passed round it which is not turned over the upper surface. The cheese is then placed in brine extending half-way up in a salting-tub, and the upper surface is thickly covered with salt. Here it remains for nearly a week, being turned twice in the day. It is then left to dry for two or three days, during which period it is turned once— being well salted at each turning—and cleaned every day. "When taken from the brine it is put on the salting benches, with a wooden girth round it of nearly the thickness of the cheese, where it stands a few days, during which time it is again salted and turned every day. It is next washed and dried ; and after remaining on the drying benches about seven days, it is once more washed in warm water with a brush, and wiped dry. In a couple of hours after this it is rubbed all over with sweet whey butter, which operation is afterwards frequently repeated ; and, lastly, it S. III.-45