Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-07-08
Some Points in Cheese Making.

We condense the following directions
from an address on the sub ject recently
given before the Ontario Dairymens
| Association by a dairyman of extended
experience:
For summer and fall cheese rennet
should be used in sufficient quantity to
produce coagulation in fifty minutes,
with the milk at temperature of from
sc to SO degrees. In the spring, while
making fodder cheese, use one-third
more rennet and less salt. The purpose
of this is to facilitate the ripening pro-
| cess, in order that the product may be
ready for the market at the earliest dav
possible. To accomplish this result,
four ounces of rennet for summer, and
six for spring, with salt in proportion.
Will be sufficient. The cheesemaker
learns from experience that in two
messes of milk, produced on different
soils, the conditions of heat and mani
pulation being the same, the cheese pro-
'duced by the one, when ready for market
will be found to be more moist than the
other. This must be attributed to con-
| stltutiOnal difference in the food and
water. The experienced maker may reg
| ulate the matter by variations in cutting,
scalding and stirring. Having ascertain
ed that moisture predOminates in the
milk of a given dairEehe will cut finer
scald more slowly, and stir longer, for the
smaller the cubes the more thorough will
be the operation of heat upon them, and
the more thoroughly we stir the more
certain we shall be to expel the moisture.
Immediately after cutting, stirring
should begin. The curd cubes should be
stirred about fifteen minutes, then put
over the fire and stirred half an hour con-
tinuously, then stirred several minutes
after taking from the fire, to prevent
their baking to the bottom of the hot
vessel. Heating should proceed slowly at
first, but gradually increase as the why
separates. Ninety-eight degrees is the
usual temperaturein summer, but as the
season advances the milk becom es richer,
and It's necessary to have the tempera-
ture higher. She heat must be kept up
until the curd is matured, and then cook
ed and aired we'll before sailing.
At the first indication of acidity the
whey should be drawn; here is the great
secret of cheese-making- the absolute ex-
pulsion of the whey at the nick of time
when acidity is known to be near and yet
has not appeared. After the whey has
been removed, and while the subsequent
appearance in the body of the curd, which
seems to depend for its development
upon the action of the air, and the pres
sence of which experience has shown to
be an essential element in the makeup of
cheese. This acid should be allowed to
develop properly before the addition of
salt, as the presence of that substance
will preclude its appearance.
Curd should contain about 35 per cent
moisture when pressed, and dry out down
| to 80 per cent. when cured To deter
mine and retain this proper proportion
of moisture in cheese, is one point which
requires good Judgment in the operator,
and cannot be determined readily by any
means now known of a practical nature
Observation and practice are the only
guides at present known, and cheese
maker must rely on his experience and
common sense.
| An important point in cheese-making
Is to know exactly how long the milk
| should stand before the introduction of
| the rennet.
! Cheese-makers know that freshly drawn
milk is not always susceptible to the &C
ton Of rennet. A test for this is to take
an ordinary sized teacup, holding one
gill, and into this full of milk introduce
dram, or teaspoonful of rennet of
which you know the strength, and the
time employed to perfect coagulation.
This will furnish you with unerring GER
tainty with knowledge Of that which you
are in search.
By the use of this test it is possible to
determine to a minute the time which
would be consumed before cutting should
begin. If the milk does not curdle well,
sour whey should not be used, but the
milk subjected to the natural action of
heat, by which the change is fastened
without detriment to the quality Of the
milk