Page:Hand-book on cheese making.djvu/16

 into an almost solid mass that often requires harsh manipulation to separate. Then, again, the salt being sprinkled by hand over the outer surface of the freshly-torn curd sears and burns it before it can be worked into the mass. With a self-salter, the saline condiment is equally distributed through all parts at the proper limit of acid formation, thus preventing the curd from packing solidly and making the quality even and fine.

MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE.

COAGULATION OF MILK.

If the milk you have in your vat is mature, or, in other words, slightly tending toward sour, heat it as rapidly as possible when preparing for the application of rennet. In the cool extremes of the season heat milk to 86° Fahrenheit and in warm weather to 85° before rennet is applied. If the milk is all right as to sweetness, as the bulk of milk is, heat it up to the desired point gradually, stirring it gently at frequent intervals with a long-handled dipper. You stir for the purpose of keeping down the cream and evenly distributing the warmth that is permeating the lacteal mass. You stir it with great gentleness and care because milk globules are eggs in miniature, and, like their large relatives of biped production, they must be handled with care. If you wish to heat to 85° and have an under-heater vat or fire flue beneath the milk, withdraw the fire before it has quite reached that point, as the after warmth will carry it up a degree or two. Be perfectly precise in all such little points, for on them hinge big results.

With milk in normal condition as to maturity, standing at a temperature of 85° in both ends of the vat, and with no cream visible on the surface, you are ready to take another