Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-01-13
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AMERICAN SOFT cHEEsEs.
Great Future for Them IL They Ar
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sion at various times to sample some of
the delicious soft cheeses for sale in the
markets of New York city. They were
10 agreeable to the taste that naturally
Dne wanted to know whether they were
really imported, as the names tackled to
most of them indicated.
inquired about it and found, not at
all to my surprise, that they we're made
in America within radius of fifty miles
of New York city. 1t seemed necessary
to call them frontage dIsigny, Camem-
bert, de Brie and Neufchatel, in order to
give them a send off, as it were, which
was a pity. but they were made here
and were in most cases better than the
imported samples that bore their name.
waited quietly till could get around
to it. then paid a journalistic visit to
two places where these fine specimens of
American industry are produced.
visited soft cheese factories at Mon
roe and at Chester, N. Y. | am in
debted to the kindness of factorymen in
both places for information which can
not help being valuable to both cheese
eaters and cheesemakers elsewhere. A
comparatively fresh. 1t is not pressed
dry and hard, but is simply put into
molds and drained and turned. When
Just right to he eaten it is almost or quite
as soft as butter. About eight pounds
of milk are required to make one pound
of soft cheese.
From the point of view of a consumer
should say skimmilk soft cheese is not
worth the trouble of making. To be
fit for eating this kind of cheese must
be made at least from whole milk.
while a whole cream soft cheese is good
enough to finish off the dinner of saint.
This brings me to speak of Star cream
cheese, which is a speciality of one of the
factories visited. 1t is purely Yankee
invention, and-l say it with modest
pride-neit. Ell in Switzerland, Germany
or France did ever taste any cheese so
good. If anybody is inclined to dispute
my word | merely answer, Cheese it"
The firm making the Star cream cheese
began the soft cheese business in 1862
Upon the walls as you enter their fac
tory You observe the signs, mo Smok-
ing" please Don't Spit on the Floor. ="
On this basis, and ON that of perfect
cleanliness and care throughout, they
began operations At first they only
made sixteen to eighteen quarts of milk
day into soft cheeses. Now they CON
sumo 5000 quarts day. Last year
they made $40, 900 worth of their par
ticular products. They are shortly to
start another cheesery in Elgin, Ills.
Their reason for locating it there is one
that tells whole volume i'll few
words-they can get richer milk in Ell
gin.
The milk they use at Chester is such
as the farmers of Orange, Duchess and
Ulster counties supply to the inhabitants
of New York for their daily consump-
ton. These farmers are so hard pressed
by the middleman and the freight car
riers that they have utterly sacrificed
quality to quantity in the milk they
sell. The milk of the COWS that supply
the New York market looked to me thin
and blue, from cheap scrub cows. as it
mostly is. For this reason the men who
make the rich cream cheese take their
new factory to Illinois. They have had
constant struggle to get milk rich
enough to make a good soft cheese.
They would pay more for richer milk if
they could get it, but they cannot.
The formula used by them in making
Neufchatel cheese was obtained from a
Frenchman. The way the Star cream
cheese came to be made is very good
story. The firm had been supplying
soft cheeses to well known New York
grocer. One day the grocer sent for the
cheesemaker and said: 1--WE want soft
cream cheese, to be eaten fresh, that is
richer and better than anything ever
yet made. We have class of custom
ers who will pay for just that kind for
an after dinner cheese. Now can't you
make itT'
The cheesemaker was Yankee from
way back. He set about it, thinking
and experimenting. The result was ex.
actly what the grocer wanted, and a
triumph of American skill. You can
spread the cheese upon your bread and
eat it like butter
saw it made. The farmers bring
the milk to the factory. The cream is
separated by the firm themselves. The
cream is carefully strained and heated
to temperature of 80 dogs. in the re-
ceiving vat. Then it is put into jars
containing rennet and curdled, the pure,
sweet. golden cream, just as it is, and
the rest don't know and wouldn't tell
if | did. But wish, the country over
our creameries and cheese factories
would turn their attention more to the
making of pure cream soft cheeses.
They could build up market for it that
would demand all they could supply.
AS tell you, this kind of cheese can be
eaten on bread and has an exquisite
flavor, better than most butter. There
is one point worth particular attention.
The whole cream soft cheese will take
the place of butter for bread, and it can
never be counterfeited by the oleomar-
garine tiends.
The Star cream cheese makers use no
ice, but have their own refrigerating
machine. These machines will proba-