The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-05-06
That Homemade Cheese.


Wildrose " sends the old cheese re-
cipe which she found so good, as re-
ferred to by her in our issue of April
s. 1t is as follows: The milk should be
set in the common pans in as cool
place as may be at command until there
isan accumulation of several days milk.
The object in setting it in cool room
is to prevent the rising of cream, and
to preserve the milk until enough is
saved to make it an object to work it
up. Before the oldest milk begins to
turn, the whole lot is skinned up, and
set in large brass kettle. A clean
new wash-tub, which has not been
painted on the inside, would be prefer
able. A few pans of the newest milk
are reserved and placed over kettles
and pans of hot water on the stove,
and, when heated, added to the mass
in the kettle till the whole is brought TO
the uniform temperature of about
eighty-fve degrees, or little below the
blood heat.
A portion of well-cured rennet,
about the size of three fingers, should
be soaked over night in warm water,
which is poured into and mixed with
the milk. To determine just the
amount of rennet to be used is one of
the most difficult things in the whole
process. The curd should @ come " in
about forty to forty-fve minutes. If it
comes too soon the first time, less rem
net must be used the next time If it is
too long coming, more must be used.
When, on running finger or two under
a portion of the curd and gently raising
it, it readily breaks or splits, it is ready
to be cut. This should be done with a
long, thin wooden knife, cutting the
whole curd, from top to bottom, into
squares of about two inches. After
it has stood in this condition ten or
fifteen minutes, the curd may be care
fully broken up with the hands, care
being taken not to squeeze it. In a
short time-say ten or fifteen minutes
the curd and whey will have become
sufficiently separated, so that portion
of the whey may be dipped off and
heated in the same manner as the milk
was in the beginning.
During this process of dipping off the
whey, the curd may be gently broken
up into Jumps about the size of chest
nuts. This done, the heated whey may
be gradually returned to the tub till the
mass is of temperature of ninety-six
degrees to one hundred degrees, or Z" at
blood heat" The heat must be raised
somewhat slowly, the curd meantime
being stirred and broken. The curd
may now be left to cook for thirty or
forty minutes, when it should be again
stirred and broken until it has a firm
consistency. When on taking hand
full of the curds and squeezing them
firmly they drop apart on relaxing the
hold, they are ready to be removed from
the whey. A cloth strainer is then
thrown over them and as much of the
whey dipped off as is convenient, after
which the strainer is spread over a
basket or lOw-sided box with bottom
of narrow Stats, and the curds put into
it to drain.
When thoroughly drained and aired
they may be sailed, with four or five
ounces Of salt to ten pounds of curd.
The whole should be thoroughly and
intimately mixed and broken up, when
it will be ready for the press. Formerly
it was supposed to be necessary to
press the cheese to get the whey out:
such, however, is not the case with we'll
made cheese. The object in pressing
it is chiefly to cause the particles to adj.
here and make homogeneous mass
The size and form of the cheeses is a
matter of taste. Perhaps as good a size
of hoop as any for the small family
cheese is ten inches in diameter. The
old form of fiat cheeses is generally
preferred for farm diaries to the high
form adopted in factories. They dc
not need bandaging. They should be
turned in the press after three or foul
hours, after which few hours, OF
at most days pressure, will be sufli
cient. The style of press to be uset
for these little cheeses is of no impor
lance whatever-a bit of scantling or
rail may be made to do all the service
needed, placing the cheese near ont
end of the lever, and laying shor
stick of timber across the other end.