The Farm.

Otago Witness, Issue 1319, 10 March 1877, Page 18

The Farm.

ENGLISH CHEESE— ITS MANUFACTURE.

Probably the best as troll as the most famous English cheese is Cheddar, the excellence and sweetness of which depends as much upon the management of the processes of manufacture as upon the quality of the material used. It is made principally in Somersetshire, and is produced in the following manner : — The evening's milk is placed in cooling vats so that it will be brought to a temperature of about 60deg. by the following morning, when the morning's milk is added, and the temperature raised to about 80deg. The large vat which contains the milk ia gently heated in the water bath ; and when the milk reaches the last mentioned temperature, sufficient rennet is added to cause coagulation in about forty minutes. Some whey is added to hasten the development of lactic acid, and finally, when the curd has become sufficiently firm, it is cut with curd knives. It then contracts rapidly, expressing the whey ; and in about twenty minutes it becomes quite firm, when it is broken into small pieces by a wire shovel breaker, and the temperature raised to 98deg. The whey is now drawn off, and the curd left for about twenty minutes longer, when it becomes a coherent, partially solid mass. When firm enough, it is removed, broken into thin flakes, and spread out to cooL After the lapse of another twenty minutes, it is turned over and left until it attains a peculiar mellow and flaky condition, well known to the experienced cheese maker. By this time the temperature has been reduced to about 70deg. The curd is now put into a hoop and pressed gently for about fifteen minutes to drive out the whey, by which a too rapid fermentation is prevented. It is then taken out, cut into small bits by a curd mill, and then salted with lib of salt to 561bs of curd.

The curd is now again placed in the hoops and kept under process for from 20 to 24 hours. It is then removed and the sharp edges pared off, after' which it is turned, bandaged, and. put in the pres3 again for a day or two longer. The temperature at which it goes to press is a matter of great importance, because, if too high, fermentation with evolution of gas is liable to take place and make the cheese porous. Cheddar goes to pres3 at about 65deg. While in the curing room, which is kept at 70deg., the cheese is rubbed with melted butter and turned over daily.

Cheese is usually classified into cream, whole milk, skim milk, and sour milk cheese. To the first class belong Stilton, cream Cheddar, and Cotherstone. Whole milk cheeses are Cheddar such as above described, Cheshire, best Gloucester, and Wiltshire. Some Gloucester and Wiltshire cheeses are made of skim milk. Sour milk cheese is principally Dutch. A great cheese fair was recently held in London, and of this the London Illustrated News gave several illustrations. A large cheese vat is represented, capable of holding 500 gallons of milk. The men are engaged in what is technically termed cutting up the curd, an operation effected with a kind of rake. The steam required for heating the milk and

other purposes connected with the manufacture was supplied by one of Burford and Co.'s steam generators. Another illustration shows the curd mill at work ; after which we have what is called the filling-in of the vata : that is to say, of 1 the moulds from which the cheese takes its particular form. The cheese presses are the same that the Aylesbury Dairy Company use in their factory at Swindon. In the cream and butter section of the Company's stall three 50-gallon creaming tins, of a special pattern and each giving a skimming surface of 20 square feet, were exhibited. Upwards of 3001b3 of this butter and more than half a tun of cheese were made at the Aylesbury Dairy Company's stall, during the few days the show continued open, from the milk of the cows exhibited. — Scientific American.