Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-03-25

MISTAKES IN CHEESE MAKING
The usual method of the cheese
maker is to rush the process of making,
and in far too many cases, attempt
! big yield at the expense of quality. In
many factories, the nights milk is held
over until morning, and the mornings
milk then added. The nights milk is
usually warmed up in advance, the new
milk added as it arrives, aud when the
last can goes in, the milk Is ready to set.
The rennet is quickly introduced, and
then the curd is heated up to nlnety'slx
degrees or ninety eight degrees as soon
as possible The haste to cook, salt and
get to press is observed as in the first
process, and the result is cheese OF all
grades of texture, quality and "be'
havlor," and often final disaster. Is
there no remedy
If our cheese makers, to begin With,
will insist upon taking in no milk that
is not up to standard, and then go slower
themselves, a great gain would be made.
Let this heating up wait until all the
milk is received and then gradually heat
up the mixed milk, keeping 1t we'll
stirred until ripened. 1t will then work
evenly aud uniformly, aud give sound
curd at the end. Milk is not worked
down smooth enough, as a rule, before
the rennet is introduced. The method OF
adding the rennet needs little reform.
II should be made more dilute. The
small amount is not sufficient to be thor
oughly mixed with the milk. If the
same amount of rennet is diluted with at
least three volumes of warm water and
then added, better coagulation will re-
suit. The cooking or scalding is often
done too hastily. The heat should be
raised very slowly, aud at inter
walls it should be held steady
for short time, aud then steam
again turned on. What is the object of
cooking curdl-to scald it, or is it
method of promoting rennet actiOni 1t
is questionable whether, taking one day
with another, milk is not set too warm,
and later on scalded at least ten degrees
too high. Some late developments seem
to indicate that eighty degrees is warDl
enough for milk when set, and eighty
six degrees to scald, rather than ninety
six degrees or ninety-eight degrees, the
usual temperature. The operation OF
cheese making should be to make good
cheese and retain all of the butter fats
possible. But the moment milk or curd
is warmed up to Lightweight degrees,
the oil in them tends to liquify, and es-
capes with the fluids, being lost as food.
Of course it will take longer to cook a
curd-twce as long-but some Cana
dian experimenters are finding that they
thus get as fine cheese as they ever did,
with a pound less of milk for pound
of cheese.
The acid needs to be developed in our
curds in dryer way, after they have
been taken out of the whey, aud the
curds kept warm for this development
to take place. The sink or drainers OF
our factories should be made double,
so that a little live steam can be intro
duced under the jacket, and the curds
kept uniformly warm, until they will
pull the threads of the requisite length.
Then it should be broken up, cooled
and sailed by some curd mill process,
or otherwise. This should be a pains
taking operation, so that the curd shall
not be lacerated, allowing the fats, in
part, to escape on the least provocation.
Much good curd is injured by allow
ing it to remain too long in the whey
after the acid is developed. On the other
hand, some curds are put to press before
they have taken on acid enough, or been
properly worked and aerated, and then
dumped into the hoops too warm.
Definite rules should be observed on the
point, when, and at what temperature
the salt should be added, and at what
stage of acidity aud temperature the curd
shall be put to press. Many curds are
hooped too warm, and the after per-
Torrance of the cheese is largely due to
this use.-Americau Agriculturist.