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lt;£jft ^Dtrttj Australian Agrirulturist.THE DAIRY.—CHEESE-MAKING.Tho making; of cheese i* a most important busincHs, and in England at least tins soarco of large and profitable traffic. To those who are ignorant of dairy work it will bo rfooosaary to remark that milk is composed f three distinct substance*—cream, curd, and whey. The cream separates first, and is taken off to form butter: the milkif loft'to become sour, also sepuratcs into two narts, cunlllo* '01II'and whey ; but as tho clieose is injured by allowing tl»c milk to become sour, and acid is used which soon curdles the milk without injuring its quality. The acid commonly Usod in this country is call :d rennet, which isu preparation of tho gastric juice from the stomach of a sucking calf.The experience of tbc dairvman teaches him exactly the quantity of tliis acid required to turn a certain quantity of milk. But if ha is doubtful as to the strength of his rennet, be tries it ou a Indleful of warm milk : by the nuickuess or slowness of the curdling, and the form of the (lakes of curd, ho knows whether it is strong or weak, and uses it accordingly.Tho method of preparing rennet is very simple. Where calves' stomachs cannot be obtained, those of pigs are sometimes nude use of, and are found to answer the purpose equally well. When the pigs are killed in winter, the inside skins are taken out ami wiped clean with a cloth, but not washed. Then they are laid Hat on a table, rubbed thiekly with salt, and placed on n dish for about four days, at the end of which time they have sufficiently imhilled the salt to be dried and stored for use. In drying they are streched out ami hung near the fire, after which they will keep until tho next season. When rennet is wanted one of these skins is placed in a jar, with about three pints of strung brine made of salt and boiling water.It remains in this brine three or four days, tho mouth of the jar being covered with Mr l ler. The stre- gth of the liquor is then tested, and if it curdles milk easily the skin is taken out, ami tho rennet bottled and tightly corked. The skin is salted ami dried, and will answer the same purpose on another occasion.The following i» considered the simplest ami perhaps the best method cf procuring rennet:—As soon as n sucking calf is killed, the stomach should be taken out. and if the calf has sucked lately it is all the better. The outer skin should be well scraped, and all fat and useless membranes carefully removed. It is only the inner coat which must be preserved. The coagulated milk should b_ taken out ami examined; and any substance besides cunl found in ir, uhould be carefully removed. Tbc scum left in it should be pressed out with a cloth. It should tlieu lie replaced in the stomach with a large quantity of rliu b.-st salt. The akin or veils, as they are called, are then put into a jar j and covered with a saturated solution «»f salt, in which they ; are soaked for some hours, but there mu-t li • no more i s liquor than will moisten the veils. They are afterwards j hung up to dry, n piece of Hat w.khI being put crof*-*-wise into each to stretch th in «ur. They should bj perfectly dried and look like pirclnmut. In this state they may lie kept in a dry place any lougtli of time, nml are always ready for use. In some places at the time of miking cheese a piece of veil is cut off and soaked for sonic hours in water whey, nml the whole is added to the warm milk. | n In other places pieces of veil are put into n linen l«ig. nml soaked in warm water, until the water lias acquired sufficient strength, which is proved by trying a portion of it in warm milk.There are different kimls of cheeses, according to the mode of preparing them; soft nml rich cheese* are not intended to be kept long, hard and drySchcesc* are adapted to be kept and stored for provisions. Of the first kind are all cream cheeses, and those soft sorts, called Bath chces-s anil Yorkshire cheeses, which are sold as soon as mndlt;‘, and, if kept ft*. long, become soft a id putrid. £tili»n andGruvi're chee*es are intermediate; I’armesau. Dutch.....Cheshire, Gloucestershire, and similar ehce-es are intended ! m fuir longer keeping. Tile po.rer thechcc*e is the longer it will keep, nml all cheese that is well cleared from whey, and sufficiently salt d. will keep for years. The small lutch cheeses called Kd.im clio-acs are adniirabU adopted for keeping, and form an important article in the victualling of ships.The GruvOrc and IVirmcstui cheeses only differ in the nature of t/ie milk, and in the degree of heat given t • the curd in different part* of the process, Gruycre cheese i* entirely ninde'fnnu new milk, and I’armesan from skimmed milk. In the first mailing i* added to give flavour, in the latter saffron gives both colour mid flavour.In Cheshire the making of cheese is carried on in great perfection, and the greatest pain* arc taken to extract evcrv J ■{article of wh y. For this purpose the curd is rcp-.itedly ^ri/ken and mixed, nml placed in w,h«d in w.sidon b*x»- which have holes bored into them. Through tin -e Imlo ■ sharp skewers are stuck into the cheese in every direction, no t Ir'it no particle of whey can remain in the* curd : The clastic matter formed also escapes through chuuiel-*, mil W the whole cheese is ft solid mass without holes, which in * this cheese wouM lie looked upm a* a grr ir defect. The nnlt is intimately mixed with the curd, and n »t m-rely rubbed on the outside. This checks internal lenm ntati ni. and prevents the formation of clastic matter. 1 *'Gloucester mid Suuer*et.»liire cheeses are similarly nude J;* with this difference: that the enrd is not so often broken, -*i or the cheese skewered, and a portion of she cr.uiu is gene- : 1,1 rally abstracted to make butler. After the cunl has been •?.separated from the whey, mi l is broken line, warm water is rlpaired over it for the purpose «f washing out any remaining 1 “t whey, or p rimps to dissolve any portion of butter which » any have separated before the rennet had regulated the milk. S;iStilton cheese is made by adding the civim of the prc- ceiling evening's milk to the mornings milking. The I,'!cream should Ik- intimit.-ly ineorp .r ued with the new milk. i« Great attention should lie pi id to the temperature of both, nml much of the quality of the chce-o depend* up..., ti,i, *: part of the process. To make this cheese in perfection, a* ' lnueh depend* oil the in iimgemeut of the cheese after it i* made, as on the richuess of t!ie milk. Tlu rennet should1 be very pure ami sweet. When the milk is cngii! it d, th«Nwhole curd is tak.-u out and drained on a sieve, and verv ! It'*•1.iitvv.rail si. Ii .nrv.ri*nilI..moderately pressed, ii is lbeii out into a sIiiijk in thv form «.( a cylinder, s or •.• inches m diameter, the axis ..f which is longer than the diametei of the tr»*o. Wli m it i* rmffieiently linn, a cloth or t-ipc i- woiin I round i: t prevent ,! its breaking, and it is ,;t on a shell. Ii is .kxmsi m illv powdered with Hour, and plunged int. Imt water. Tins hardens the outer coat, and favours iln: interusl fermentation, which ripens it. Milton elieese is generally preferred when n green mould appears in its texture. To’accelerate this, pieces of a mouldy cheese arc sometime.* inserted into holes made for the purpwe. by the. scoop called a /•»*•(• r, an old wine or ale is pm red over for the Mine purp.se, Imt the best cheeses do not require- tliis, and arc in perfection when the inside liceoinir* ,.ft like butler, without anv ap-puanuice of mouldiucs*. In making verv rich cheeses, the whey must Ik- allowed to rim off slowly, because, if j{ wure forced rapidly, it might carry off a great port I m of the fit «»f the cheese. This humieiis more: or less in every mode of making cheese. To collect this superabundant Imrtcr, the whey is set in shallow p ms. as it is d me with milk when butter is made, and an inferior kind of butter cillel fi„ ./ butler is made Irani ilie cream or fat skimmed oil.Cheeses are sometimes coloured. For this purp.se am.itto ground Sim on a *toult;\ and mixed with the milk at the time the rotuct is put is. j, employed. Tlu juice of th • orange carrot and the H over of marigold are also use I for the s i .ic object The practice probibly it rose Iron the notion of making thc clieese look richer, bin now it ducuivcs no one. Cho ld r, Sjilrun. Derby, an I smn • nth -r c'ice'.-s are ncvvr coloured; cbesbre, slightly-but GlniieeMcr and North ^ iltshire deeply; and foreign cheeses arc ..nly o d mred very slightly, if at nil.
Newspaper Details
Adelaide Observer
Adelaide, South Australia, AU
Sat, Sep 20, 1851
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Rebecca D.
AU 31 Aug 2022
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