HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING TEXT

bladder, and drying them. This is the way in which the Bavarian rennets, which reach this country, are preserved. We believe no salt is used. The method is simple, and if it answers the purpose equally well, we see not why it may not be adopted in this country. We understand that the Bavarian rennets give very good satisfaction. But, as we have never used them, nor seen them used, we cannot speak from positive knowledge. Veal rennets are generally supposed to be better than deacon rennets. Certain it is that the stomach of a calf that never sucked the cow is not worth much in cheese-making. It is both small and weak. It seems to be necessary that the process of digestion should go on for a while, at least, that all the functions of the animal may become active and a full secretion of gastric juice take place. Some are of the opinion that the rennet is best when the calf is from three to five days old, as at that age it is not likely to have taken anything but milk into its stomach, which is best prepared for digesting that kind of food, the first process of which is coagulation. Veal calves are apt to get hold of other food, and the stomach is therefore less exclusively adapted to a milk diet. Hence, it is argued, if the veal rennet is better than the deacon, the stomach of the cow or ox ought to be better than that of the veal calf. Whatever may be the conclusion, we have, and shall probably continue to have, both deacon and veal rennets, both kinds of which have been found to work satisfactorily. Much seems to depend on the condition of the calf when killed. If it goes too long without food, the stomach gets inflamed and is not only deprived of its strength, but is partially diseased, and, therefore, unfit for cheese-making. This is the condition of most of the rennets taken from calves killed in our larger cities, the calves going without food sometimes two or three days. On the other hand, when the calf has a full stomach, the juices seem to be absorbed in the food, and the rennet is, therefore, weak. The best time for killing the calf appears to be just after the stomach has emptied itself, when the appetite of the calf begins to be sharp and the secretions of gastric juice are copious. This will generally be found from twelve to eighteen hours after eating. If fed at night, it may be killed any time the next forenoon. CHAPTER XII. PREPARING RENNET. The process of preparing rennet for use is very simple, and so generally understood that we need not more than give a few hints on the subject. In putting rennets to soak, care should be taken not to allow any tainted ones to get into the batch. When they are packed in salt, it is not difficult to make a selection. If the poor rennet does not smell, it will be pretty likely to be discolored and unhealthful looking, instead of having a whitish, wholesome appearance. All rennets thus discolored should be thrown away as worse than useless--as positively injurious. If the rennets are dried, it may not be so easy to detect the poor ones before putting them to soak. After soaking, their quality will be quite apparent; but much of their injurious effect may be avoided by promptly rejecting them without rubbing. It is generally, and we believe correctly, understood that diseased or tainted rennets produce both huffy and bad-keeping cheese, by the introduction of decayed animal substances. It certainly cannot improve the quality of the cheese to mix with it the broth of carrion. Clear whey is the common and best liquid for soaking rennets. Water was once and is now sometimes used, but it needs to be very soft and pure, and is improved by boiling. We have never tried water, but it is asserted by those who have used it for soaking rennets that a batch prepared with it will not keep sweet as long as one prepared with whey, but that boiling the water keeps it sweet longer than it will keep if not boiled. We think the purer the whey the better, and therefore prefer that which first separates from the curd after setting. Some are not particular, and some prefer the salt whey that runs from the presses. There is a saving of salt in this, but we think this liquid cannot be as good to introduce into milk as that containing less cheesy and buttery particles. Boiling the whey and skimming it, afterward allowing it to cool and settle, that the sediment may also be excluded, is said to be a great improvement, and we can easily believe this to be true. It is not only free from impurities, but it forms a sharp acid that acts readily upon the rennets and extracts more completely the pepsin, gastric juice, or whatever it may be that coagulates the milk. It is said that quite a saving in rennets can be effected by using scalded whey for soaking them. Twenty or twenty-five prime rennets put into a half barrel of whey will make a good preparation. It can be made stronger, of course, by the addition of more rennets, or pouring in a less amount of whey; but it is questionable if the entire strength can be extracted by using a less quantity of whey in proportion to the number of rennets. They need to be rubbed at least three times, each time in a new batch of whey. The second time the preparation will be found about as strong as the first. The third rubbing and rinsing may be in fresh whey to be used for soaking a new batch of rennets. We like to have two tubs or jars for soaking the rennets, one for the first and the other for the second rubbing, alternately. After rubbing the second time, put the rennets in a sack made of strainer cloth, to keep them separate, and soak them with the batch intended for the next second rubbing. In this way the strength of the preparation from the batch may be kept equal to that from the first. Rub the third time, and rinse in fresh whey, as before indicated, when the strength will be found pretty completely extracted. If dried rennets are used, it will be necessary to add salt to the whey when the batch is put to soak. Every time new whey is added, more salt will be required. Where the rennets are packed in salt there will usually be salt enough for the first soaking adhering to them; if not, it may be increased in quantity by a few handfuls of that loose in the barrel in which they have been packed. As the rennets will float on the whey, they should be thoroughly stirred up as often as night and morning, and a little salt sprinkled over those left on the top. We prefer stone jars, both for soaking rennets and to keep the prepared rennet in, because they are so much more easily kept sweet than wooden tubs can be. Of all things, we detest a stinking rennet tub or jar. Frequent scalding, when emptied, is necessary. When the preparation is kept in a tub, it will be advantageous to rub a little salt, each morning, on the sides of the tub left exposed to the air, after setting the milk, by the lowering of the liquid. By all means, do anything and everything that may be necessary to keep the rennet tubs or jars from stinking so badly that the stench will nearly suffocate one on uncovering them. A sweet rennet tub is the evidence of important qualities in a cheese-maker--care and cleanliness. Of course, there are various ways of managing, as regards quantity, convenience's sake, and so on, but we do not believe the principles involved in the process of selecting and preparing rennets for use, as we have given it, can be violated or neglected without loss in some manner. The importance of properly-prepared rennet, and of keeping it sweet and clean, cannot be too highly estimated. "Bad luck" in cheese-making might not infrequently be traced to the rennet tub; while "good luck" may be as often traced to the same source. Look out for your rennets and take care of your rennet-tubs or jars. They may make or mar your fortune. CHAPTER XIII. SETTING. The temperature of 82° to 86° is generally considered the best for setting--the former in hot and the latter in cold weather. This gives an average of 84° for mild weather. Perhaps this point is as good as any for setting. But it is worth bearing in mind that the milk will coagulate sooner, after adding the rennet, at a high than at a low temperature. The same milk will set quicker at 86° than at 82°, and at the points in the vat where the heat is greatest, or the milk cools least by radiation, the curd will become tough and difficult to cut, while other parts of the mass will remain tender and cut easily. This not only demonstrates the greater activity of the rennet at a higher heat, but the importance of an even heat throughout, and of keeping it from falling. Some throw a cloth over the vat, after the milk begins to thicken and agitation is no longer necessary to keep the cream from rising. This is a good practice, we believe, as it retards the reduction of temperature by radiation, and keeps the heat more equalized. This will secure a more uniform action of the rennet, and render the cutting less difficult and less liable to cause waste. When the rennet is once added and thoroughly incorporated with the milk, we believe it would be better if the mass could have perfect rest until the curd is ready to cut. We think the curd is more likely to be spongy in consequence of the continued or frequent agitation kept up to prevent the cream from rising. All know that a stir too much after the milk begins to look thick, and roll heavily, prevents the formation of a solid curd. It refuses to unite in one uniform mass, and remains in small, separate particles. But, when the milk is all right, observation will show that such a curd makes fine cheese, though there is great waste from the fine particles floating off with the whey. And why will it make fine cheese? Because it is in small particles, gets thoroughly and evenly cooked, and the butter is equally distributed through it. But the difficulty of preventing the cream from rising and forming a cream-curd, that will float on the whey, if it does not waste, needs to be overcome before we can allow the milk perfect rest after incorporating the rennet. We are not aware of any method for accomplishing this. Agitation of the surface, at least, seems necessary to retain the cream; but if the surface only is agitated, manifestly the cream will escape from the bottom of the mass and impoverish it while enriching the top. 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. We cannot indorse this conclusion, although it is asserted that where agitators are used, and the cream is thus prevented from rising, there is a great saving of the butter. But one fact is worth a thousand fictions in the practical affairs of life, whatever it be in romance. Cream will mix with the milk by stirring, and go to enrich the cheese, as is proved in the manufacture of the English Stilton cheese. In the manufacture of this, the cream of the night's milk is taken off and added to the morning's milk, which is worked up separately. The cheese is greatly enriched thereby. How much the waste of butter is increased, we are unable to say. We know from our own experience, that skimming the night's milk, instead of stirring in the cream, makes a marked difference in the yield and quality of the make. The first thing in setting, when a vat of milk is raised to the proper temperature, is to add the coloring. This is a strong alkaline preparation, and must have a tendency to retard the development of the lactic acid, if it does not combine with it in forming a neutral salt. If no effect is perceptible, beyond the color it imparts, it is simply because the quantity is so small. Probably the effect of the alkali in the annotto is more than counteracted by the acid in the rennet. Nothing as good as clear whey has been found for soaking rennets. Some think the acid an advantage in the working of the milk, and others go so far as to add, in cold weather, a quantity of sharp whey to the milk along with that in the prepared rennet. This, of course, hastens the development of acid throughout the mass. But we cannot say that we approve of doing anything to change the milk, and thus sour the curd before cooking. We prefer to have the milk as sweet as possible when set, and to keep the curd sweet until it is cooked. Then we would develop the acid in the whey. For this reason, if sour whey is to be added, we should add it after the curd is cooked, for the purpose of hastening the development of the lactic acid in the whey. This seems to us to be the most rational course, from what our experience has taught us. If fair experiment should demonstrate that we are in error as to when and where the development of the acid should take place, we shall be willing to yield the point. The amount of prepared rennet that it is necessary to add to the milk, depends upon its strength, which can be determined only by experiment. Sufficient should be used to coagulate the milk in ten or fifteen minutes, and render it fit to cut in thirty or forty minutes. If the milk is "old," the same quantity of rennet will cause it to work sooner, as it should. Some would add less rennet. We would not. The milk needs to work faster, and the acid, although it coagulates the milk, will not supply the place of the rennet. The rennet ought to be strong enough to require not more than a quart to a thousand pounds of milk. CHAPTER XIV. CUTTING CURDS. Cheese-making was once carried on without cutting the curd; and even since the introduction of the factory system, there have been those who denounced the idea of using a cutting instrument. Breaking up the curd with the hands was considered the better method as incurring less waste, both of butter and cheese. Such ideas, though entertained but a few years ago, are obsolete. Cutting curds is now universal, certainly in America. The only questions are as to the time, manner and extent of cutting. When should the curd be cut? Practically, there is little difference of opinion on this question. Some may cut a little sooner or later than others, and even the same person may not always be precise as to the time of cutting. But all will agree that a curd should not be cut before it is firm enough to break square and smooth over the finger without whitening the whey; and they will also agree that it should be cut before it gets tough enough to drive along ahead of the knife. We would cut it as soon as it can be done without waste, while the curd is tender; and we would do all the cutting at once. There is no sense in running the knife through the curd one way, and then letting the curd stand and toughen before cross-cutting and completing the operation. If it is fit to partly cut, it is fit to wholly cut; and the sooner the cutting is done with, the better. Time for the separation of the whey can be given after the cutting is done, and before the heat is further raised. The cutting should be done as carefully as possible and as evenly as possible. The fewer the motions, the better. If it could be done instantaneously and uniformly, without agitation, it would be an advantage. At the right time, we would like to have the entire vat of curd instantaneously separated into pieces of uniform size. This is the end to be aimed at. We are far from reaching it with present appliances. We can only approximate it as nearly as possible. A knife, therefore, with blades near together is preferable to one with blades farther apart. As to the extent of the cutting, there is more difference of opinion, though the difference has much diminished since the mania for coarse curds ran its course. A few yet cling to this exploded notion; but the great majority choose a medium degree of fineness. It has been found that the large pieces do not sufficiently cook, especially if the milk is old enough to work quick. The consequence is an uneven texture, and a deteriorated flavor. Sufficient whey remains in the centers of the large lumps to ferment and give the cheese the smell of the whey-vat, if it does not sour and cause the cheese to become leaky and dry. Possibly, if the weather be favorable for curing, the whey may collect in pungent drops throughout the cheese, showing themselves when cut somewhat as they do in the Limburger. Such cheese, we think, is likely to ultimately approximate the Limburger in both odor and flavor. It will please some tastes, but will not answer for the best markets. Medium curds are now the rule. As cheese-makers have approximated fine curds, they have improved the quality of their cheese. We believe still finer cutting will prove a further advantage. We will give our reasons for thinking so, and will add that our experience, as far as it goes, corroborates the idea. It secures a more uniform action of the heat and separation of the whey, and therefore an evener texture and better flavor, with correspondingly improved keeping qualities. What is the object and advantage of cutting at all? Why not let the curd remain in one unbroken mass? We cut the curd for the purpose of facilitating the separation of the fluids from the solids by the combined action of the rennet and heat. Is it not desirable that this action should be uniform on every particle of curd? We think this question will be generally answered in the affirmative. If so, then it must be conceded that the finer the curd is cut the more nearly the desired result will be attained. If it could be separated particle from particle, without waste, would not the action of the heat and rennet be more perfect still? When in lumps, the externals of them must necessarily be cooked more than the centers, and the evil of over-cooking--if there is such an evil with a blood heat temperature--is illy counteracted by the mixture of curd cooked to different degrees--some overdone and some underdone. It should all be cooked alike, to whatever degree the cooking may be carried. This will secure uniformity of texture and quality, and also clean flavor, if the cooking is complete. But, of course, in cutting a curd fine there is danger of waste--waste of curd, but not necessarily waste of butter, unless the curd is sour. Then it is impossible to avoid waste of butter by any process that we are aware of--and with a sour curd there is all the more necessity for cutting fine and cooking rapidly and thoroughly. With proper care, the evil of sour milk can be avoided. With good sweet milk and proper management, there is very little danger of waste of any kind, cut as fine as we can with the common knife. We would cut so that the pieces when cooked should not be larger than kernels of corn; and though many object to it, we should not, if the pieces were as small as buckwheat--and as regular in size. We would not use a knife with the blades more than a quarter of an inch apart. Though we have never used a knife for cutting horizontally, the idea commends itself to our judgment. We would carefully cut first with the horizontal knife, leaving the thin slabs of curd lying one upon the other. Then, without waiting for the whey to rise or the curd to sink, we would use the perpendicular blades lengthwise of the vat, reducing the slabs to long square strips, and follow this with the cross-cutting until the pieces were at least as small as beechnuts. After this, the curd may be allowed to stand a few minutes, for the whey to separate, before starting the heat--provided the milk is sweet enough to permit of delay.