Page:Husbandman and Housewife 1820.djvu/32

 and in the morning it is skimmed and racked off clear; to this is added an equal quantity of water brine, strong as the whey, and into this mixture, some sweet briar, thyme, or some other sweet herbs, also a little black pepper and salt petre; the herbs are kept in the brine three or four days, after which it is decanted clear from them. Into six quarts of this liquor four large calves' bags or more properly called calves' stomachs are put. No part of the preparation is heated, and frequently the calves' bags are only steeped in cold salt and water. Turning the milk differs in different dairies, no two dairy women conduct exactly alike.

Setting the milk too hot inclines the cheese to heave, and cooling it with cold water produces a similar effect. The degree of heat varies according to the weather. The curd when formed is broken with what is called a treple cheese knife. The use of this is to keep the fat in the cheese; it is drawn the depth of the curd two or three times across the tub, to give the whey an opportunity of running off clear; after a few minutes the knife is more freely used, and the curd is cut into small pieces like chequers, and is broken tine in the whey with the hand and a wooden dish. The curd being allowed about half an hour to settle, the whey is laded off with the dish, after it is pretty well separated from the curd.

It is almost an invariable practice to scald the curd. The mass is first broken very fine, and then the scalding whey is added to it and stirred a few minutes; some make use of hot water in preference to whey, and it is in both cases heated according to the nature of the curd; if it is soft, the whey or water is used nearly boiling; but if hard, it is only used a little hotter than the hand. After the curd is thoroughly mixed with the hot stuff, it is suffered to stand a few minutes to settle, and is then separated as at the first operation. After the scalding liquor is separated, a vat, or what is