Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1894-12-27
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cHEppAR CHEESE.
Why the English Article Is Better Than
Amy other.

wlich other cheese is judged as TO its
quality, and while there are richer
oheeses yet the process of manufacture
is such that this cheese is the best made
one i'll the world for the quality of it.
1t is every mans cheese and now occu.
pies the first place in the English cate
gorty in place of the Cheshire, which 40
YEARS ago used to be considered the
standard This distinction is due doubt
les; to the skill of the English dairy
Women who do the work in the dairy
while the men attend to the excellently
managed farms by which the large pop
ula0on and live stock are supported.
THAI this farming is excellent is shown
by these figures, which relate to the
county of Somerset, the center of the
Cheddar district. There are two persons
TO every acre, l COW and l young ami
NAL y each 10 acres, l sheep to each
/ 2 acres and l pig to each 10 acres.
The cows are mostly Deyons and Short
horns ind are excellent beef cattle. Each
COW makes an average of $50 pounds of
cheese, with large quantity of whey
butter There are %, 600, 900 pounds of
cheese made in this county annually,
equal to 80 pounds to each inhabitant.
The appearance of the landscape is
the most pleasing and is remembered
ever afterward when once seen by Wis
itor Clean fields, verdant pastures,
handsome homesteads, well kept hedges,
orchards and blooming gardens and ev-
erywhere evidences of comfort and pros
perity. The cheese has been leading
product for more than a century, and
that it is of excellent quality will be
readily understood by the intensely clean
character of the brick or stone diaries,
entirely free from any gathering of offal
or waste, and, to use common term, as
fresh and sweet as one of their crimson
tipped daisies. This intense cleanliness
is one of the conspicuous reasons for the
good quality and pure flavor of the
cheese. The other peculiarities of the
dairy work may be summed up as, first,
the condition of the milk, this being
the best in every way possible; second,
the temperature of setting, which is low
viz, rs to 80 degrees; third, draw
ing off the whey early; fourth, heating
the curd to 100 degrees; fifth and most
important, heaping the hot curd in the
vat until mild acidity is developed;
sixth, putting in the press to get rid of
the whey, at low temperature-viz,
60 to 20 degrees; seventh, grinding the
curd and then sailing, with accurate
measuring of the salt
These various processes are all in
cluded in what is distinctly known as
the special cheddar process, and thus
the term "cheddaring" has come into
use to distinguish this method from all
others. The measure of acidity is very
low, and by due attention to this very
special point of the making the fine
mellow texture and solidity of the
cheese are secured. Then the careful
curing in the brick or stone-and thus
easily regulated--dairy houses in which
the cheese is ripened, with the goodness
of the milk, gives the richness in the
mouth, the long keeping quality and
the freedom from holes, with the desir-
able mild pure flavor distinctly free
from every faint of incipient decompo-
sition, (Which have made this cheese a
pattern, not always adhered to- howev-
er, for the American, but more closely
The excellence of the great Chicago
prize mammoth cheese made in Canada
is very good sample of how nearly the
Canadian cheesemakers come up to the
high standard of the genuine English
cheddar. And this success is due to
both the better farming and skill in the
dairy of the Canadian farmers for this
cheese had all the good qualities men,
tioned-viZ, the mellow texture, the
richness of favor, the remarkable keep
ing qualities-by which pieces of this
cheese distributed months after the
making of it still retained all its origi-
nal excelle' oe-and the solidity, to
which all these qualities are doubtless
due, for compact mass or curd must
from the necessary exclusion of the air
have the durable quality, and the slow
ripening due to this gives the special
texture.
Thus the student of cheese dairying
has in this cheese and this relation OF
the manner Il its making an invaluable
lesson for ~lidance in his business.
Other cheeses may be curious to him.
This cheddar is bit of business infor-
more SO as we are competing with this
cheese in its native country, and tc
make the business profitable we must
make as good cheese. We must i'm
prove our farming first, making better
pastures, keeping the best kind of COWS,
yielding rich milk, so that the curd
may be full of fairness and of such pu-
rity of flavor that the cheese may retain
it until itreaches the consumers hands.
4 few words may perhaps be usefully
devoted to the matter of cleanliness on
model cheddar farm. At the begin
ping the pastures may be mentioned as
used alternately for feeding and for hay.
This keeps the pasture clean, by nc
means an insignificant beginning. The
COWS are largely fed on green crops. OF
which clover is conspicuously impor-
tant. The cows are Shorthorn grades
The lack of hay land is made up by
feeding the cows on straw and oilmeal
in the winter. The COWS are kept in
stone houses with paved floors kept scru-