THE STORY OF MILK TEXT

sure of thorough mixing. Let stand covered for half an hour until a firm curd is formed. Cut or break the curd very carefully with a big knife or spoon or home-made fork with wires across the prongs, imitating as far as possible the operation with curd knives in the factory. [Illustration: Taking the temperature of the milk in a shot-gun can ] [Illustration: Curd fork ] [Illustration: Mold or “Hoop” ] “Cook” the curd as in factory cheesemaking. If steam is not available, allow the curd to settle and dip off some of the whey which is then heated and poured back on the curd so as to raise the temperature of the whole mass about 2 degrees. Repeat this several times, gradually raising the temperature to 100°, a few degrees at a time. Keep the curd gently stirred up and floating in the whey and do not allow it to lie on the bottom of the vat long enough to pack firmly together, stirring once in a while until by smell and taste (if not also by acid or hot iron tests) it appears to be sufficiently fermented for the whey to be drawn, a condition that can only be learned by experience. This will be about two or three hours from the time the rennet is added. [Illustration: Diagram of lever press ] [Illustration: Combined screw and lever press ] Draw the whey and press more out of the curd with the hands. Let the curd mat and break it up alternately several times; finally crumble and pulverize it and keep it stirred with the hands, adding salt at the rate of three to four ounces to the curd from 100 lbs. of milk and continuing the stirring until the curd is cooled down to below 80°, when it should be packed into the hoop and put to press. This salting and cooling may take another hour. The hoop may be made of wood or heavy tin of any size desired, with a loose follower of wood. The sides and bottom should be perforated to allow the whey to escape. Or it may be a cylinder without top or bottom, placed on a corrugated piece of board. Line the hoop with cheese-cloth before putting in the curd. [Illustration: Upright factory and dairy cheese press ] For pressing, a home-made lever-press, as outlined in the diagram, may be made of a plank or bar, one end of which (_C_), is stuck under a piece of a board nailed on the wall while at the other end a weight (_K_) is applied which may be moved in and out to regulate the pressure. The hoop is placed under the plank at the fulcrum (_K__{1}) near the wall. If a compound lever-press or a screw-press is available it is better. It is important that the pressure is applied straight so as to make the cheese even and not one side lower than the other. Begin with light pressure and increase it gradually every hour until at night the full pressure is applied. After an hour take the cheese out and turn it in the hoop, then return it to the press and at night apply full pressure. The next morning take it out and weigh it and place it on the shelf to cure in a room of moderate temperature, turning it every day. After a couple of weeks it may be removed to a cool cellar and rubbed with grease. In two to three months it should be sufficiently matured for consumption. OTHER TYPES OF HARD CHEESE MADE WITH RENNET [Illustration: A variety of domestic and foreign cheese made at the dairy school of the University of Wisconsin ] In the manufacture of the Dutch Gouda, the Danish Export, and other similar types, the “cooking” and matting of the curd, characteristic of the English and American Cheddar, are more or less omitted. Otherwise the process and the result are not greatly different. They are all “hard” or solid cheese of the same class, though there are hundreds of varieties in different localities, each with some peculiarity of its own. [Illustration: Gouda cheese ] =Gouda Cheese.=—The _Gouda_, like the _Danish Export_ cheese, is made from whole or partly-skimmed milk which is set with rennet at 90° F. and is coagulated, ready for cutting, in fifteen to twenty minutes. The curd is broken with the “lyre,” so called, a frame on which piano wires are suspended. The curd is but slightly “cooked” and the whey is drawn while still sweet. After being pressed with the hands in the vat to squeeze out the whey the curd, still quite warm, is put into wooden molds and worked and squeezed in them with the hands for half an hour to eliminate more whey, when the mold is placed in a regular press for 12 to 18 hours. To salt it the cheese is placed in a strong brine where it remains for several days. It is then put on the shelf in the curing room where it is turned and rubbed daily and in four to six weeks it is marketed. The cheese is about 10 inches in diameter by 4 to 5 inches high. [Illustration: The Lyre ] =Edam Cheese.=—The ball-shaped red _Edam_ is also made in Holland by a similar method to that of the Gouda. Fresh milk is set at from 90° to 93° F. in summer and up to 97° in winter,—colored to a rather high yellow with Annatto. Add sufficient rennet to coagulate the milk in 8 to 15 minutes. Cut curd carefully with the “lyre” and break with fork into very fine pieces, as small peas. Leave to settle for 3 to 4 minutes, putting cover on the vat if the temperature in the room is below 60°. When settled, the curd is gently pushed into a heap which takes 5 to 6 minutes and the whey is removed with a dipper. Weight is applied for 5 minutes and the tub or vat is tipped so the whey will drain off while the curd is held back with the dipper. This pressing is repeated twice more for 4 and 3 minutes respectively. [Illustration: Curing room in a Gouda cheese factory ] The curd should now be elastic and firm and show a temperature, in winter of at least 83°, in summer at most 90°. If necessary the temperature is regulated by pouring hot whey (not exceeding 104°) or cold water over the curd. The mold is then placed in the vat and two handfuls of curd put in which is squeezed and worked thoroughly with the hands. More curd is added and worked in the same way and this is repeated until the mold is full with a large top on, which is pressed with the hands for 4 or 5 minutes, turning the cheese 3 or 4 times and opening the drain holes if plugged up. Some makers sprinkle a teaspoonful of fine salt in the bottom of the mold, but in warm weather it is better to work in a quarter of an ounce of salt. This work must be done quickly so the curd will not cool. [Illustration: Mold for Edam cheese ] When thus formed the cheese is dipped for 1 or 2 minutes in fresh whey heated to 126° (in winter 131°) and pressed with the hands in the mold for another 2 minutes when it is carefully wiped off by rolling on a fine cloth to remove the last drop of whey. The cheese is then wrapped in a fine cloth, placed in the mold and put to press, in the Spring for 5 to 7 hours, later in the year for 12 hours. The cloth is now removed and the cheese is put in a larger mold which is placed in a water-tight salting box provided with a cover and a drain-hole in one end. The first day a pinch of salt is put on the top of the cheese and the next the whole cheese is rolled in damp salt, turned and put back in the mold, a liberal quantity of salt being placed on the top. This is repeated every day until the cheese from being soft and elastic becomes hard which as a rule takes 8 to 10 days for a 4 lb. and 12 days for a 10-12 lb. cheese. Finally the cheese is left a few hours in the brine collected in the box, washed, wiped and placed on the shelf in the curing room. The curing room should be light and well ventilated, never above 72° nor below 45°. Windows must not be opened to admit dry wind or moist air. If too dry the cheese will crack and if too moist it will be covered with deleterious yellowish red fungi. The cheese is turned daily the first month, later every other day or twice a week. When 24 to 30 days old the cheese is soaked for one hour in water of 68 to 77°, washed with a brush, dried for 20 to 40 minutes in the sun and returned to the shelf. This is repeated two weeks later and then the cheese is painted with linseed oil and left on the shelf until shortly before shipping when it is scraped with a sharp knife and painted according to the demand of the particular market for which it is prepared; yellowish with Annatto for England and Spain, red with Turnsole for other countries. When dry it is rubbed with a little butter and red color. =Swiss Cheese.=—The Swiss Gruyere or Emmenthal also belongs to this class. It is characterized by its form and size, being large, round and flat, weighing 100 to 140 lbs. or more, and by the large holes which are wanted in Swiss, but not tolerated in American or Dutch cheese. It was formerly supposed that first-class Swiss cheese could only be made in the Alps, but very good imitations have long been made in Northern New York and in Wisconsin. Besides in the usual large round form, the same as the genuine imported Emmenthaler, American Swiss or “Switzer” is also made in _blocks_, six inches square and twenty inches long, weighing 25 to 30 lbs. Until lately Swiss cheese has been made in the old-fashioned way, the factory and tools being of the simplest description. The milk was heated in a copper 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. [Illustration: 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, beginning to expel the whey, crossways, into vertical sticks, two inches square. [Illustration: Scoop ] [Illustration: Cheese sword ] [Illustration: Cutting the curd with the scoop ] [Illustration: Tools for stirring the curd ] No horizontal knife is used, but a few minutes after the last vertical cutting the curd is further broken by the “scoop,” a wooden spoon or ladle about eight inches long, thirteen inches wide, one and one-half inches deep, and provided with a short handle. Standing at one side of the kettle, the cheesemaker scoops off a layer from the top and, drawing the scoop towards himself, drops the pieces of curd close to the side of the kettle. This movement is repeated, at first slowly, then faster, and soon the whole mass of curd is moving, the pieces cut off going down along the side of the kettle and the rest of the sticks sliding upward along the other side, to be attacked by the scoop as soon as they come to the top. All the curd having been cut into square pieces, it is further broken by the stirrer, a stick at the lower end of which a few cross sticks or wings of brass wire are fixed, the whole mass being kept in constant motion. =Cooking the Curd.=—After breaking up the curd to the size of peas or beans, the stirring is discontinued for about ten minutes, when it is begun again and the kettle is turned over the fire, or steam is applied, to heat the curd to 140° under constant stirring which is continued for 45 to 60 minutes after this temperature has been reached. The condition of the curd is judged by squeezing a handful and noticing its elasticity and consistency. It is important to stop stirring at the right moment. More whey is expelled in making Swiss cheese than for Cheddar cheese. The cooking and agitating having been finished, the mass, which now consists of grains the size of wheat, is once more stirred up with such force as to make it form a funnel at the center and it is then left at rest for five to ten minutes. The curd, forming a rather solid cake at the bottom of the kettle, is now lifted out without being broken. One end of a large piece of cloth is folded around a flexible rod. Bending over the kettle the maker takes hold of both ends of the rod and gathering the other end of the cloth between his teeth, pushes the rod down along the farther side of the kettle, letting it follow the bottom towards himself until the whole mass of curd is gathered in the cloth, when it is lifted out of the kettle and placed in the hoop on the press table. The hoop can be enlarged or diminished to take care of a varying amount of curd which is put into it in the same solid cake as formed in the kettle without being broken. Pressure is applied, at first, gently, later heavier and after half an hour the cheese is taken out, turned and provided with fresh bandage, put back into press and left till the next day. [Illustration: In Swiss cheese making the curd is lifted out of the vat with a strong cloth ] Curing and Salting.—The cheese is first placed in a curing room above ground and heated in winter. After a few weeks it is removed to the cellar. Sometimes three to five cheese are piled one on the top of the other for a few days with a few handfuls of salt between them. The salting proper is done by rubbing and brushing dry salt and the brine formed from same into the cheese,—altogether 4 to 5 lbs. of salt to 100 lbs. of cheese. Every day it is rubbed with a dry rag and the cheese is turned and salted on the other side until the salt is thoroughly incorporated. [Illustration: Swiss cheese press ] The cheese is cured for at least 100 days in the factory and is usually stored for another three to six months by the dealer before it is ready for the consumer. =Roquefort.=—The French _Roquefort_ is inoculated with a mold from stale bread which spreads through the cheese and produces the peculiar flavor of this type. It is made from sheep’s milk and was formerly cured in cool subterranean caverns, but now in elaborate curing houses. In this country imitation Roquefort is made of cow’s milk and cured in cold storage. It should be remembered, however, that sheep’s milk is very rich in fat and that a rich Roquefort that will compare favorably with the genuine cannot be made from cow’s milk without an addition of cream if sheep’s or goat’s milk is not available. In France a small addition of cow’s milk to the sheep’s milk—not to exceed 10%—is often used. Around Roquefort a milk ewe produces on an average 135 lbs. of milk a year, which makes up to 35 lbs. of cheese. [Illustration: Milking the ewes at Roquefort, France (G. Ellbrecht) ] The milk is set at about 80° with rennet sufficient to coagulate it in 1½ to 2 hours. To cut or break and stir the curd, tools similar to those used in the manufacture of Dutch cheese are employed and stirring is continued until the pieces of curd are about the size of peas when the whey is dipped off and the curd is further broken with the hand and placed on a cloth to drain. In fifteen minutes it is ready to be put into the hoops which are either of glazed stoneware or perforated tin, 8 inches in diameter by 4 in. high. Ground stale, moldy bread is sprinkled in the curd as it is put into the hoop, at the rate of 1 part of bread to 10,000 parts of curd. This moldy bread is prepared from 2 parts of wheat flour and 1 part of rye flour leavened with sour yeast and vinegar and baked hard. The loaf is placed in a dark, moist cellar to mold. In six weeks it is penetrated with mold when it is dried at 86° and pulverized, forming the powder used for inoculation into the cheese-curd. When the hoops are filled they are placed in large wooden boxes at a temperature of 65° to 70° for the whey to drain off. The first few days the cheese is turned three times a day, later once a day, and when five days old it is brought into the curing room where it remains until it is firm enough to be shipped to the large cold storage establishments, where it is taken care of until ready for the general market. In the “caves” a high degree of moisture, a low temperature—40° to 50°—and pure air are essential conditions. The cheese is first _salted_ by being rubbed repeatedly with salt on all sides. The slime forming on the surface is brushed or scraped off so as not to prevent the admission of air, which is essential to the curing. In order to further facilitate the penetration with air the cheese is now _pricked_ with numerous needles by means of a machine and placed on the shelf in the cave where the proper moisture and temperature are maintained. Various fermentations are now developing, one after another, regulated by scraping, ventilation, etc., until in six to twelve weeks the cheese is ready for the market and is packed for shipment in paper or in tinfoil and in wicker baskets or airtight boxes, according to destination,—for home consumption or for export. [Illustration: Curing room in a Roquefort cheese factory (G. Ellbrecht) ] =Parmesan Cheese= is an Italian cheese made mostly in the Valley of the River Po and named from the City of Parma. It is produced from partly-skimmed milk and is allowed to become hard and dry, being used grated with macaroni. The milk is set with rennet at a comparatively high temperature, about 95° F., and when it is firmly curdled it is broken up and stirred rather vigorously, which makes the curd fine and dry. Color is now added—powdered _Saffron_—at the rate of 0.5 gram to 100 kg. milk. The curd is cooked slowly under constant stirring to a temperature up towards 100° when the whey should be perceptibly acid. The curd is then allowed to settle in the round kettle and when fairly firm it is lifted up in a cloth, the same as in Swiss cheesemaking. The mold is also much the same as the Swiss and the curd is but slightly pressed. In the course of the day the cheese is turned once or twice and put into fresh cloth. The next day it is put into the curing room when it is rubbed with salt. In a few months the cheese is cured and is then scraped and polished with linseed oil. Sometimes it is kept in storage two or three years in a dark room at a temperature of 63° F. The composition averages: 32% water, 21% fat, 41% nitrogenous matters and 6% ash. [Illustration: Caccio Cavallo ] =Caccio Cavallo= is made in Southern Italy of a form almost like a beetroot. The milk is set with rennet at about 95° F. and after the curd has been broken up the whey is dipped off and heated to boiling when it is poured back on the curd. The mass is then allowed to ferment eight to fourteen hours according to the temperature of the air. The quality of the cheese depends largely on this fermentation. The fermented curd is cut into pieces and submerged in boiling water and is then kneaded and formed into the desired shape. After lying in cold water for two hours and in brine for thirty hours it is dried and smoked until it attains a fine golden color. It is made in various sizes, from 5 to 20 pounds, and the yield is said to vary from 10% to 16% of the milk. Caccio Cavallo is eaten on bread as well as with macaroni and is much relished by the Italians. =Limburger=, =Brick=, =Munster= and other similar semi-soft cheese of the proverbial strong flavor, originated in Belgium and Bavaria, but are now largely made in Northern New York and Wisconsin as well. For Limburger the milk is not ripened as for Cheddar but is set with rennet quite sweet at a temperature of about 90°; the curd is cut rather soft, care being taken, however, not to lose butter-fat. The curd is but slightly “cooked,” to a temperature not to exceed 96°, and is not salted in the vat but is dipped out into perforated wooden boxes or molds about 5 inches square and left to drain without pressure. The cheese are placed edgeways like bricks on shelves and are rubbed with salt and turned every day until cured. During the curing process moisture exudes and a fermentation takes place which develops the well-known “Limburger”