Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1878-06-06

rioht consistency l WOuIu NOV "ai11oi "."oN
c;ded acid in the curd. The last days OF
Nav and the first part of June were very
warm for our latitude, and to my surprsesl
found my curds every day becoming quite
tough and packing at the bottom OF the vat'
without a trace of acid apparent by any test
[ applied. / almost cried Eureka" with
Archimedes of old, for here had | not clrds
firm enough, and yet perfectly sweet: liad
| not fortunately what Prof. Arnold and
other writers said we should have?
con the 3Oth day OF May, one mess OF
milk, about 125 pounds, was delayed tll al
most the last moment, and ran it into the
vat lust after adding the rennet. In my
haste to get the milk in, [ neglected to taste
it beforehand, as is the rule but just as 1t
was about all through the stralner, some
thing impelled me to taste OF the milk, and,
to my dismay, it was decidedly sour.
SIS There is a curd spoiled | said to my
self. : I cannot get anything sweet out OF
the vat to-day
:: I accordingly watched the vat through
the forenoon, and cooked the curd just as
long as | dared to, with an acid condition
showing itself quite early. This curd was
ground, sailed, and pressed like the others,
but we concluded we should have a lot OF
sour cheeses in due time. Down to the 10Th
offJune, the curds were for the most part
sweet but at that date, as my last May
cheese was ripening off. [ found chat, for
a, " wa, t at least hul oil uyartpI at SIVppf
curds. Some Of the cheeses had retained
their shape perfectly had a good rind, and
tried we'll till you tasted them, when we
found a sweetish, unpleasant flavor that the
buyers rejected. Many Of the sweet curds
failed to retain their shape, did not form
good rinds, and gave us almost endless
trouble through hy-time. These, when
tried, We're found to be porous, most, with
the sweetish flavor. and an added bitterness
which the Boston buyers would not toler-
cate at all. On the other hand, my May
30th cheeses with that sour milk, stood the
test, and were pronounced the best of the
months make. I became satisfied that al
though a sweet curd might sometimes keep
its shape and bore well, yet it lacked in
those qualities essential to bring the most
money.
II had a second experience with sweet
curds in the fail, but must leave that story
for another time. The necessity for the ac-
id development is, ! dare say, a part of the
art of cheese making rather than q princi-
pie of the science tor the theory of sweet
curds has a smoother plausibility to it, and
it seems as though we might take sweet
milk and keep it sweet through all the
stages. Cut over the watts, day after day,
the cheese maker finds that one of the mys-
teries Of organic chemistry confronts him,
and theory breaks down before practical ex-
perience.
The experience Of this cheese maker is on
ly similar to that OF many others WHO have
been led away by the attractive notion OF
improving their product and making rich
returns to patrons from the sweet curd pro-
cess. Many ~tactorymen, we tear, will rush
into the trap the present season, and we feel
it . duty to warn cheese makers against
losses which they will be liable to incur by
attempting to make cheese on the sweet
curd process for the English market. But
if any one desires to experiment on this
process, let it be done in a small way at first.
for by the time the cheese is ready Tor mar
ket he will be likely to get his eyes well
opened, but if not, his patrons will proba-
bly, assist in the operation when they gath
er in their returns from the sales OF the
cheese.-X. 4. Willard, N. Y.