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 cauldron hanging on a crane, enabling the cheesemaker to swing it on or off the fireplace. Nowadays the kettle is usually jacketed and heated with steam. The round form is still preferred to the American cheese-vat, however, as it adapts itself better to the peculiar method of handling the curd.

Swiss cheese

The milk is set with rennet at a temperature of 90° F. in summer and 95° in winter, sufficient rennet being used to make a firm curd in thirty to forty minutes. But very little color is added. The curd is cut with a long, sharp wooden knife, the "cheese sword," first one way into sheets, then, as soon as the cuts stand clear,