St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-06-02
HOMEMADE CHEESE.
How a Very Good Article Can Be Pro duced
By Farmers Wives.


How Very Good Article Can Be Prot uced
by Farmers Wives.
Some FAM lies desire to make the
cheese for family use. 1t is true, cheese
can not be made of such uniform tex
ture and quality as where all the appli-
ances are at hand, as in well-ordered
cheese factory. Nevertheless, by using
care, better cheese may be made than
is usually found in country stores. The
very best rennet must be used, and
proper attention be paid to the temper
ature of the milk during the process of
manufacturing. The rennet (the
fourth stomach of a calf before it has
eaten grassy should be at least six
months old-one year is better-and
must have been kept perfectly dry
Put good sound rennet in a gallon
crock containing three quarts of warm
water, a teacup full of salt, and if a
handful of sage leaves are added it will
give delicate sage flavor to the
cheese. Soak three days, or until a
teaspoonful of the rennet extract stirred
in a teacupful of milk will curdle it in
fifteen minutes. The strength is then
rightly Then take out the rennet, dry
again thoroughly, and it will then do
to soak again with a fresh rennet
Strain off the liquid ext act into bottles,
tightly corked, and keep in as cool a
place as possible.
To make whole milk cheese, strain
the milk in clean tin boiler, setting
it ON the range where it will remain at
near blood heat or say S. degrees. Stir
in gill of the liquid rennet to sixty
pounds (thirty quarts) of milk. Stir
until thoroughly mixed. Let it stand
for twenty minutes, or until curdled;
the curd should be ready for cutting
by that time. Cut in squares, so the
whey may separate from the curd; heat
gradually to not over 96 degrees, let
stand till the whey rises to the top of
curd, then break the curd in pieces
with the hands, carefully 50 as not to
start the white whey, and thus loose
some of the richness of the cheese.
When the curd is pretty we'll broken
do not hurry this operation, break up
very gently-raise the temperature by
a gradual heat till the curd is sea, ded
sufficiently, not over ITO degrees, then
dip into muslin strainer. laid over a
rack, or spread over Il good-sized mar
ket basket, so as to allow the whey to
drain from the curd. The curd must
be cut fine and worked all the time it
is heating, so it will not adhere TO-
gether. When the whey is drained
off, salt and put curd Immediately to
press. This pressure should be grad
ually increased.
If one has not sufficient milk to make
to cheese at one setting, the curd from
the first lot can be hung away in cool
place before sailing, and remain until
the next batch is ready for scalding;
then it can be cut fine and added to the
fresh curd when it is being scalde;ik
and treated the same as if fires &E
made. 1t is much more work to mA#e
cheese from this double curd process
than from one setting, and liable to G
less successful result.
The curd may be sailed at the rate
of near half an ounce of salt to each
pound, say three ounces to six or seven
pounds. This sailing is not so much
for iavoring rs to check the tendency
to putrefactive formation. The saline
taste in old cheese is due not SO much
to the salt used as to the formation of
ammoniacal salts in the process of re-
pressing. The pressure on the cheese
in the press must be regulated by cir
cumstances up to 1,50O to 1000
pounds.
When the cheese is taken from the
press it should be bandaged with
cheese cloth to keep it from spreading.
The temperature of the curing room
should be about 81 degrees. The
higher the temperature the quicker the
ripening. Turn every day, greasing
with whey butter as occasion may re-
quire, to prevent cracking, or in lieu
of this with unsalted butter. After the
cheese becomes firm, turn only as &C.
casion may require, the ripening pro-
cess requiring two or three MONTHS
Farm, Field and Stockman.