Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1900-10-05

HOMEMADE CHEESE PRESS.
the tender mercies of an erratic atmos-
phere that has freaks of being alter
nately wet, cold hot ana dry.
While the natural bent Of the air and
weather cannot he changed. we can
influence it to make it serve our wants
and purposes.
When green cheese leaves the hoop,
it is no more cheese than a calf is Il
cow being simply u compressed lump
of cheese material.
The forces inside of a cheese, assist
ed by Il proper temperature outside,
are what accomplish its edible maturi-
ty.
How much certain bacteria have to
do with this phenomena is yet a moot
ed question, but no doubt exists as to
the necessity of an equable tempera-
ture in giving them a "happy medium"
in which to work.
1t must be remembered that rennet
is the yeast Of cheese and acts some
thing similar to yeast in bread. The
more rennet there is in the product
the quicker it will begin to ferment
the whole mass and the more active
and powerful will be the fermentation.
In other terms, the cheese will then
cure faster. You cannot expect an I'M
cooked loaf of bread set in in a cold
or even cool room to raise and become
light. 1t must have a certain degree
of warmth to accomplish that pur-
pose.
1t is thus with cheese. To properly
cure and bring out the active force Of
the rennet and any latent curing bac
terra" that are willing to act in cooper
alton with it Il steady, even warmth is
needed in the room. say of Go degrees
+. in summer and 10 degrees to 10 de-
grees in spring and fall.
You may take all the pains possible
to Manufacture fine grade of cheese,
and you place them in a poor. faulty
curing room, and they are going to
spoil.
If the room is too cold they will sour
on the shelves because the rcnnet lies
dormant and cannot act. If the atmos-
phere in which they are stored is too
hot, the butter fat melts and pcrco-
lates, destroying its flavor and sub
tracing from its richness
\ cheese in the first stage Of curing
requires more heat than it does later
on; hence Il curing room should be
constructed on the following plan: The
shelves should be arranged around the
room in tiers one above another. Three
tiers high are usually the most conven-
lent.
The new cheese, those right from the
press, should be placed on the top
shelf, the nest in age on the middle
shelf and the oldest at the bottom. rs
heat r.seS-and it is Warnest nearest
the ce.iius-yo viii thus have their
proper curing completely under con
troll.
The curing of cheese is both fer
mentatiye and a digestive process. All
food before it can aSsimilate from the
stomach into blood nouriShmont must
be digested 10y the Tactic juice that is a
secretion Of the stOmach's walls.
If this requisite digestive process has
already been partially accomplished in
the food before it is introduced into
the stomach, that organ has less to per-
form; hence the value of well cured or
prcdigested cheese as an article of diet.
To rVcapitulate the points TO be ob-
served in scientifically curing cheddar
cheese. first, be provided with a cur
ing room tightly plastered or ceiled and
well ventilated.
Provision must be made for main
tanning an even temperature in both
hot and cold weather. For the former
sprinkle the floor every day with cold
water and give a free circulation of
air when the sun is not hot outside.
For cold weather use sufficient fuel.
In curing, cheese should be turned
and rubbed with n soft, oiled cloth
rvery day until they have reached an
advanced stage of maturity.
If they are left a long time without
turning, the curing advances incom-
pletely and the rinds become moldy
and rough. The grease used for rub
bling can be churned or rendered from
the cream arising in the whey vat