Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-04-27

In preparing rennet for use, the wells or
skins may be either soaked in water or whey
Sour whey is best and it should be properly
purified before using. This is done by tax
ing quantity of sweet whey and heating it
to near boiling heat, when the butter and al
luminous matters in the whey will rise on
the surface and should be removed with a
skinner The whey may then be set aside
to sour and when it has acquired a sharp acid
taste is fit for use Rennet should be steep
ed in stone jars. These jars are now manu-
featured for this purpose of various sizes from
five to thirty gallons Wooden vessels are
liable to become tainted, and therefore should
never be used for sleeping rennet. To do
the work in the best manner, two jars, say OF
fifteen to twenty gallons each, will be requir-
ed. The old rule is to use one rennet to the
gallon of liquid, but for fifteen gallons we
should add two or three rennets more.
Select, then, say eighteen good sweet rem
nets and put them to soak in fifteen gallons of
the prepared whey. A small quantity of salt
may be added In order to keep the wells
from rising on the top, large stone crock
cover may be immersed in the liquid covering
the wells, which will hold them under the sur
face After the wells have been in soak for
day or SO, they should be thoroughly rub
bed up in the whey, in order to extract their
strength. They may then be allowed to soak
for day or two longer, when they should be
rubbed out again, and the soaking and rub
bling continued from time to time for several
days.
AT the end Of weeks time the strength
Of the wells will be pretty well exhausted,
when the liquid should be strained through
cloth and placed in the second jar, and is
ready for use. More whey may now be
added to the wells in the first jar, where they
may be soaked for a week or more with an
occasional rubbing which will probably ex.
tract all their strength and they may then
be taken out and thrown away. The liquor
should be kept in cool, sweet place and oc.
casionally stirred, and if good, sweet rennets
have been used, it will have no unpleasant
tainted smell.
As rennets vary greatly in their strength,
no exact rule as to quantity can be given for
hundred pounds of milk. The strength of
the liquid must be tested by trying small
quantity OF the prepared rennet in small
quantity Of milk, and then estimating how
much rennet It will take to coagulate hun
dred pounds of milk in forty to sixty minutes
This having been once determined the guam
tity Of rennet required for a vat Of milk can
be regulated with exactness so long as the
batch Of prepared rennet lasts. But at ey-
cry new batch Of prepared rennet, test, as
above described, must be made to determine
its strength.
When water is used to soak the rennets,
enough salt must be used to make it strong
brine.
As the sour whey assists the rennet in the
process of coagulating the milk, rennets soaked
in whey will 60 further than when soaked in
water, and at the same time the liquid pre-
pared in the jar is not 30 liable to faint.
During the past year We have given several
recipes, in the Rural, for preparing rennet; ;
but as the season Of cheese making is ap.
preaching, the subject is proper one to be
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