THE MANUFACTURE OF GRUYERE CHEESE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1199, 22 February 1895, Page 6

THE MANUFACTURE OF GRUYERE CHEESE.

One of the best of Swiss bheese; at all events the oile whißh is mdsi popular in Britain, is that known as Gruyere. The manufacture of this variety of cheese is mainly confined to the small holder and the factory, the former in most instances being a member of a creamery. The manufacture is thus carried out:—The temperature at Which the rennet is added is from 90 to 95 deg. Fah. The best cheese, known as Emmenthaler, is riiade from Quite" fresh milk, the milk of one meal* while the rennet used is usually made at the factory, and dotitains a sinali quantity of sour milk, sd that it is at once a medium of communicating to the milk tHe ferment which play! so important a part in the production of the cheese. The curd is broken at the end of about 30 minutes, when it is allowed to settle in the bottom of the cheese vat, an elaborate copper vessel, which has no counterpart in English dairying. Here it remains for from 10 to 15 minutes, in which the whole mass is heated to a temperature of from 120 deg. to 130 deg. In England this is termed scalding; in Switzerland itlis termed cooking. If the cheese is scalded at a lower temperature the cheese is intended to ripen quickly,; but if it is intended to keep for a long time, a still higher temperature is adopted. As sweet milk is used, and the process is rapid, very little acidity is developed ; hence the whey is expelled from the curd chiefly by heat. Nevertheless more whey is retained than is usual in the pressed cheeses made in this country. The cUrd is stirred during the heating process until it has acquired a certain condition which the cheesemaker recognises; This condition is practically one in which the whey is present in a given proportion. The eyes or holes in the cheese are produced by the formation of carbonic acid, and their number and size indicate very closely the quality of the cheese, which is ripened at temperatures varying from 60deg. to 52deg. Salting lasts a Considerable tiiriej and is continued until about 2£ per cent, of salt is absorbed by rubbing on the crust. The Gruyere industry is one of the most important in France and Switzerland, and there is no reason why this variety of cheese should not be manufactured in this country, fine qualities being often; unobtainable, as much is produced from skim-milk, while the prices realised are exceptionally good. The Farming World.