Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-09-15
CHEESE MAKING.
HINTS FOR THOSE WHO MAKE
THEIR OWN CHEESE.
pIishing the best Results by
Whoever Done.

As many farmers who have few COWS
now make cheese sufficient for their own
use, the following directions for making
homemade cheese, given in Henry Stew
arts recent work, which is the latest
authority, may be Of value to some of our
readers, and of interest to others. He says:
Any quantity of milk, from 100 pounds
upward, may be used. The nights milk
may be set in cool place and stirred fire.
quently up to the latest opportunity. In
the morning this milk is SKINNED and put
in tin pals in tub of hot water to get
warmed up to 100 degrees. The mornings
milk is brought in fresh and warm, and is
at once mixed with the warm milk, which
is reduced to 90 degrees by this mixture.
The mixed milk is put into a clean wash
tub and the rennet is added. The rennet
is made by sleeping piece of the dried
stomach of calf in warm water and add
ing salt. The exact quantity required for
100 pounds of milk is so grains, or one
eighth of an ounce of the dry stomach in
q ounces of water at 20 degrees, for "a
hours, for milk at 80 degrees. About one
drachm or a tablespoonful of salt is added
for this quantity. When the rennet is
added the milk is well stirred to thor
oughly mix the rennet, and the tub is COW
cred with a cloth to retain the heat
This quantity of rennet is enough to
make the curd in an hour. More rennet
will make hard, dry cheese, and so will a
higher temperature, either of these being
equivalent in effect to the other. A low
temperature and small quantity of rennet
are also equivalent to each other in pro-
ducing a soft, mellow cheese, which cures
in the best manner and develops meaty,
rich flavor. In one hour the curd is set.
1t is now cut with long-bladed knife in
straight, perpendicular Slices one inch
thick, and then crosswise one inch apart.
This causes the whey to separate and the
curd to shrink.
Just here is the point where the various
methods of making cheese separate. BY
the cheddar system the whey is dipped off
and heated to $50 and $50 degrees, and is
| poured back on the curd, which is thus
heated up to 100 degrees, and is kept so
heated until piece taken between the
teeth "squeaks" when it is chewed, or,
when touched to a hot iron, the curd
draws out in strings several inches in
length. The other system dispenses with
| the heating, and the curd is left with the
whey until 1t is firm enough to be lifted up
| in the hand without falling apart or losing
| its shape, when it is ready for breaking up,
sailing and putting in the press. When
| the curd is ready the whey is all drained
off by fitting the tub and breaking up the
| curd with the hands. In the cheddar sys-
TEN the curd is drained and broken up
while still warm, and is left in heat to
become slightly acid. As soon as the acid
is apparent to the taste the curd is again
broken up by the hands quite fne sailed
in the proportion of 2 per cent. of fine
dairy salt, and put into the hoop and the
press. In the other method the curd is
not left to sour, but is broken up, sailed
and put into the hoop. The hoop is made
of thin ash or spruce board, and for 100
pounds Of milk or 10 pounds of cheese may
be eight inches in diameter and ten inches
deep. The curd is pressed in the hoop by
the hands little at a time, to get it firm
and solid, and loose head is put in with
block upon it. The cheese is then put
under the press. The press is frame or
bench having an upright post at the end
in which is pivoted a long lever. The
cheese is put under this lever near the
piyoted end and weight hung upon the
other end, so as to get moderate pressure
upon the cheese. A folded cloth is usually
put under the cheese to absorb the whey
which is pressed slowly out of the cheese
For a ten-pound cheese and ten-foot
lever ten-pound weight would be enough
for the end of the lever.
AS soon as the cheese is firm enough to
be handled, it is taken from the press,
rubbed with butter, and placed in cool,
dry cellar, on shelf, to cure 1t is turned
on the other end daily for a month, and if
mold gathers on it this is scraped off and
the cheese is CREASED again. With six
cows giving seven quarts each, a ten-pound
cheese may be made daily.