Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1877-02-22
DAIRY DEPART ENT.
HEAT IN CHEESE MAKING.

tents of the vat in cheese-making has, per-
haps. caused as much discussion as any 9TH
er problem connected with that manufac-
ture. This was the topic chiefly considered
by Mr.. A. J.. Fish, in his paper read before
the convention of the American Dairymen's
Association at Ingersoll. We append an
abstract of his paper from the Utica Herald
The cheese maker has to bring the fluid
mass, milk, to a temperature suited to an
efficient and uniform action of r9nnet, as an
accompanying agent, to effect a partial de-
composition, which must not be carried to a
complete separation of constituents, because
part Of the fluid portions of milk must be
retained intact. If separated by the vapor-
izing influence of heat they will not again
unite with the curd as a milk constituent or
component of the cheese. If a thin slice of
the closest worked curd, after being pressed
into cheese, is dried, it breaks like glass,
which proves that it is the retention OF wa
ter thas makes cheese plastic. The sugar
of milk combined with salt gives cheese its
aromatic flavor so much desired by the pur-
chaser; the sugar d~ecomposes freely with
the whey at high heat. If a portion of milk
or curd is exposed to higher heat thar other
portions of the mass, it is unfit for a perfect
union. The office of rennet, with the aid Of
heat, is to bring the constituents of milk to
a common unity. Heat must be discreetly
suited to the %rennet's action upon the milk
and curd; If rennet is weak and slow, heat
must be kept back to keep pace with it's ac-
ton; if strong and quick, heat may be rails
ed faster. AS neither will do the work
alone, their action should be equipoised.
Curd is n slow conductor of heat. There is
danger in exposing it suddenly to higher
heat, because the particles will become coat
ed over with an impervious skin, through
which the fluids within cannot pass freely,
preventing the curd from cooking evenly,
which results in q rough loose-meated or
swollen cheese.
A CASH IN POINT.
To illustrate the point l wish to impress,
l will relate an instance in my experience {:
I had marketed a dairy for several years
made by an English lady Of much expert
ence in cheese-making, and the quality of
her cheese was not eXcelled. The follow
ing May the dairy, made by the same hand,
was loose-meated, sour and unstable.
Searching for the cause, I stood by the tub
till the curd was worked up, when two pals
Of whey, heated to 1909 were brought to
be poured into the curd. | prevented this
and equalized a pan of the hot whey at a
time with the surface whey before mingling
it with the curd, taking an hour to raise the
mass to blood heat, and no more. The re-
suit was a perfect cheese, and continued so
after, from like application of heat. 1t is
evident in this case that too sudden and par
tial exposure to high heat caused a lack of
uniformity in the condition of the curd.
And do we not now, In the present mode of
heating, expose a portion of milk and curd
to a degree of heat that subjects it to waste
in the manipulating process and units it for
perfect conference in choosing the culd? Me-
chanics have succeeded in distributing heat
around the inner vat more evenly than for
merly, yet there is much to be gained be-
yond the present modes of heating.
THE ESSENTIALS.
The mechanic in constructing cheese watts
should hold several essential points in view.
First, that the tendency OF heat in fluids is
upwards; second, that the tendency of curd
in the process of manipulation is down.
wards, toward the bottom of the vat third,
that the thinner the sheet of water or steam
between the outer and the inner vat, into
which heat is forced, the sharper will be the
heat and hotter the heating surface of the