American Cheese
American Cheese, as it is called in the English markets, whither large quantities are shipped for sale, is made of almost every conceivable variety and quality, from the richest Cheddar or Cheshire to the poorest skim-milk cheese. The statements of some of the best dairymen have already been given. As a further illustration of the mode pursued in other sections of the country, the statement of C. G. Taylor, a successful competitor for the premiums offered by the Illinois State Agricultural Society, may be given as follows:
“As the milk is drawn from the cows, it is immediately strained into a vat. This vat is a new patent, and is better than any I have ever seen for cheese-making. It is double, a space being left between the two parts. Into the upper vat the milk is strained, and cold water is applied between it and the lower one. Thus the animal heat is soon expelled, and the milk is prevented from souring before morning. The morning milk is added. Under the lower vat a copper boiler is arranged. The water in the boiler is in perfect connection with that remaining all around the upper or milk vat, connected with three copper pipes. With a little wood the water is warmed. Thus the temperature of the milk is soon brought to the desired point to receive the rennet, which is about ninety to ninety-five degrees. Sufficient rennet is applied to the milk to cause it to curdle or coägulate in from thirty to forty minutes. Then the curd is carefully cut, each way, into slices of about one inch square. Soon the temperature is slowly increased. In about twenty minutes the curd is carefully broken up with the hand,—increasing the heat, and stirring often. When the curd is sufficiently hard, so as to “squeal” when you bite it, it is scalded. By this time the temperature is up to about one hundred and thirty or one hundred and forty.
“There are hinges placed in the legs of one end of the vat, which is easily tipped, and through the curd-strainer and whey-gate the whey is soon run off. The curd is then dipped into a sink, over which is placed a coarse strainer, and allowed to drain quite dry. It is then broken up fine, and one teacup of ground solar salt added to curd to make twenty pounds of cheese, and well worked in. After the curd is quite cool, it is placed in the hoop, and a light pressure is applied. In a few minutes more power is needed. After remaining in press about six hours, it is taken out of the hoop, wholly covered with strong muslin, finely sewed on, and then reversed and replaced in the hoop and press. It is allowed to remain until the next day, when it has to give place for another.
“After pressing thus twenty-four hours, the cheese is placed upon the shelf, and allowed to stand until the cloth is dry. Then a preparation, made from annatto and butter-oil, is applied sufficiently to fill all the interstices of the cloth. It must be turned and thoroughly rubbed three times a week, until ripe for use.
“I use the self-acting press. I know of none in use that is better,—the weight of the cheese being the power.”
The statements of skilful and practical dairymen, in different parts of the country, are sufficient to show that good cheese can be produced; but it is believed that a more general attention to all the details of the dairy would add many thousand dollars a year to the wealth of the people, and enable us to compete successfully with the best dairy countries in the world.
The composition of cheese will, of course, differ widely in nutritive value, according to the mode of manufacture, age, etc. A specimen of good cheese was found to contain about 31.02 per cent. of flesh-forming substances, 25.30 per cent. of heat-producing substances, 4.90 per cent. of mineral matter, and 38.78 per cent. of water.
The analyses of several varieties will serve as a comparison of cheese with other kinds of food. The Cheddar was a rich cheese two years old, the double Gloucester one year old, the Dunlop one year old, the skim-milk one year.
| Cheddar. | Dbl. Glo’ster. | Dunlop. | Skim-milk. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water, | 30.04 | 35.81 | 38.46 | 43.82 |
| Caseine, | 28.98 | 37.96 | 25.87 | 45.04 |
| Fat, | 30.40 | 21.97 | 31.86 | 5.98 |
| Ash, | 4.58 | 4.25 | 8.81 | 5.18 |
Professor Johnston gives a table of comparison of Cheddar and skim-milk cheese in a dried state, and milk, beef, and eggs, also in a dried state, as follows:
| Milk. | Cheddar cheese, dried. | Skim-milk cheese, dried. | Beef. | Eggs. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caseine (curd), | 35 | 45 | 80 | 89 | 55 |
| Fat (butter), | 24 | 48 | 11 | 7 | 40 |
| Sugar, | 37 | — | — | — | — |
| Mineral matter, | 4 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 5 |
| 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
A full-milk cheese differs but little from pure milk, except in the absence of sugar, which, as already seen, is held in solution, and goes off in the whey. The difference becomes greater in proportion as the cream is removed from the milk before curding, and the nutritive qualities thereby diminished.
Cheese is used both as a regular article of food, for which the ordinary kinds of full-milk cheeses are admirably fitted, and as a condiment or digester, in connection with other articles of food; and for this purpose the stronger varieties, such as are partially decayed and mouldy, are best. “When the curd of milk is exposed to the air in a moist state, for a few days, at a moderate temperature, it begins gradually to decay, to emit a disagreeable odor, and to ferment. When in this state, it possesses the property, in certain circumstances, of inducing a species of chemical change and fermentation in other moist substances with which it is mixed, or is brought into contact. It acts after the same manner as sour leaven does when mixed with sweet dough. Now, old and partially decayed cheese acts in a similar way when introduced into the stomach. It causes chemical changes gradually to commence among the particles of the food which has previously been eaten, and thus facilitates the dissolution which necessarily precedes digestion. It is only some kinds of cheese, however, which will effect this purpose. Those are generally considered the best in which some kind of cheese-mould has established itself. Hence, the mere eating of a morsel of cheese after dinner does not necessarily promote digestion. If too new, or of improper quality, it will only add to the quantity of food with which the stomach is probably already overloaded, and will have to await its turn for digestion by the ordinary processes.” This mouldiness and tendency to decay, with its flavor and digestive quality, are often communicated to new cheese by inoculation, or insertion of a small portion of the old into the interior of the new by means of the cheese-taster.
In studying attentively the practice of the most successful cheese-makers, I think it will be observed that they are particularly careful about the preparation of the rennet, and equally so about the details of pressing. In my opinion, the point in which many American cheese-makers fail of success is in hurrying the pressing. I think it will be found that the best cheese is pressed two days, at least, and in many cases still longer.
CHAPTER X.
THE DISEASES OF DAIRY STOCK.
Dairy stock, properly fed and managed, is liable to few diseases in this country, notwithstanding the sudden changes to which our climate is subject. If pure air, pure water, a dry barn or pasture, and a frequent but gradual change of diet, when kept in the stall, are provided for milch cows, nature will generally remedy any derangements of the system which may occur, far better than art. Common sense is especially requisite in the treatment of stock, and that will very rarely dictate a resort to bleeding, boring the horns, cutting off the tail, and a thousand other equally absurd practices, too common even within the memory of men still living.
The diseases most to be dreaded are garget, puerperal or milk fever, and idiopathic or common fever, commonly called “horn ail,” and often “tail ail.”