Milch Cows and Dairy Farming / Comprising the Breeds, Breeding, and Management, in Health and Disease, of Dairy and Other Stock, the Selection of Milch Cows, with a Full Explanation of Guenon's Method; The Culture of Forage Plants, and the Production of Milk, Butter, and Cheese: Embodying the Most Recent Improvements, and Adapted to Farming in the United States and British Provinces. With a Treatise upon the Dairy Husbandry of Holland; To Which Is Added Horsfall's System of Dairy Management

by Charles Louis Flint

Manufacture of Sweet Milk Cheese in South Holland.

—The best kind of sweet milk cheese is made in the vicinity of the city of Gouda, and on the gray and Dutch Yssel, from which circumstance it is often known by the name of Gouda cheese.

The making of this cheese is less difficult than that of spice cheese, but requires more attention and care, because the rich sweet milk is used for it. It is as follows: The milk as it comes fresh from the cow is strained through a hair-strainer into a large wooden vat or tub, or, in some large dairies, into a copper kettle, which stands on a peculiar tray or bench. This tray is made of four to five inch posts, and its size is governed by the quantity of milk of the tubs to be used; but these tubs generally hold from one hundred to one hundred and fifty cans. The milk is immediately set with the requisite quantity of rennet, usually one quarter of a can to one hundred cans of milk; and if it does not “come” in a quarter of an hour, more rennet is added.

When it has properly curdled, it is stirred in all directions with a wooden ladle three or four times over, and somewhat broken up, when it is allowed to stand three or four minutes at rest. It is then gently and constantly stirred again, with the ladle or the hands, and broken. By too active stirring one gets more whey than cheese, and very quick stirring must be avoided. The whey is then allowed to stand some time, by which the curdled cheese particles collect, and the whey appears on the surface, and can be taken off and poured into a tub made for the purpose. To the mass still remaining in the kettle, which is now almost all cheesy matter, as much hot water is added as is sufficient to warm it properly. The addition of hot water must be made with discretion, however, and must not exceed a certain amount, which can be learned only by practice. The more we add, the drier will the cheese become after a while; and, though it may keep the better, and be better for transportation, the taste is unquestionably injured by it. The cold-made cheese is far more liable to injury from keeping, but is much richer and more palatable, on which account the best is generally eaten fresh. The quantity of hot water to be added for warming the milk must therefore he determined somewhat by the disposition to be made of the cheese.

When the hot water has stood, say half an hour, on the curd, it is taken off and poured into the whey. The curd is now properly brought together by the hands or a ladle, and again thoroughly worked and broken. After standing at rest a short time, the water and whey are turned off again, as completely as possible, in the whey-tub. The mass of curd still remaining in the vat, now called wrongel, is cut up into small pieces, which are very carefully worked over, and then pressed into the wooden cheese-mould. In order to get a very fine separation of the curd, only a small quantity is taken at once from the vat, which is rubbed in the hands, and then pressed into the mould till it is quite full. The cheese-mould is in the form of a bowl, made of willow wood, with its lower part pierced with holes, so that the whey can run off when the pressure is applied. The cheese now formed is taken out carefully, rubbed with the hands, and still further worked in the cheese-tub, and again very firmly pressed into the mould with the hands.

To be able to press it into the mould with greater power, an implement called the presser is used. It consists of a short stick, with a kind of handle or cross-piece on the upper end. On the lower end a disc is fixed which fits into the cheese-mould. In using the instrument, the disc is placed on the cheese to be pressed into the mould, the handle or cross-piece is placed against the chest or shoulders, and the operator presses down at the same time with his hands, thrusting the disc as deeply as possible into the cheese-mould. When pressed enough on one side, it is turned round in the mould, bringing the other side up, and the pressure is again applied as strongly as possible. For saving the whey in cheese-pressing, the mould is set into a pan only a little larger than the mould itself, which catches the whey running out from the mould. When the cheese in the mould is properly pressed by hand, the cover is put upon the mould, which is loaded gradually, in order to bring down the greatest possible pressure. The weight or pressure is greater or less according to the size of the cheese; yet during the pressure the cheese must be frequently turned, that it may get the right form. The gradual increase of the pressure goes on for twenty-four hours, when the cheese is taken from the mould to be laid in a tub of salt-brine in the cellar; the cellar must be kept cool. The cheese remains in the brine twenty-four hours, but is turned once in that time. It is then taken out and put upon a table, the surface of which is inclined, the legs of one end being longer than those of the other. On both sides of the inclined table run grooves in the direction of the inclination of the surface, which unite at the lower end, and serve as a way of escape for the brine or pickle into a tub below. Here the cheese is rubbed with salt, and a handful of salt, is scattered over the top, when it is left standing for some time “in the salt.” If one side was rubbed in the morning, it is turned at evening; and the other side is served in the same manner as the first. A cheese of from fifteen to sixteen pounds remains standing thus four or five days, according to the temperature. If the heat is great, it must stand the longer in the salt. When sufficiently salted, it is washed off in hot water, and taken to the cheese-room, where it is daily turned on dry, clean shelves. If it is still greasy or dauby on the outside, it is still further washed in water, and dried off with a coarse linen towel.

The cheese-room is generally kept closed by day to keep out the light and sun, which are not good for cheese. It is opened in the morning and evening to let in a little cooling air; yet a strong breeze is avoided by opening all the doors and windows at the same time, for the cheese will crack and break open if exposed to it.

Sweet milk cheese is fit for use at the age of four weeks. Strongly salted cheese does not ripen up so quickly as that which is salted less; but, if it takes longer, the loss is less, and, on that account, it is preferred for sending off to less salted cheese, which, on the other hand, is richer, and has a little better taste. In the daily turning of the cheese, great care is taken to observe any little specks in it where the mites conceal themselves. As soon as such places are discovered, a hole is dug out with a knife as deep as they extend into the cheese. The holes are left open till the next day, when, if no more mites appear, they are stopped up with other cheese. But, if they still appear, some pounded pepper is put into the holes, which destroys them. Rotten or moist spots on the cheese are treated in the same way, but very deep holes have to be made into the cheese, and it is best to cover them with buckwheat-meal, when they dry up very quickly.

In very hot weather it sometimes happens that the cheese swells up and begins to ferment. Then it is laid on the cleanly-scoured pavement of the cheese-room, where it is cooler; or, as many do, pierced pretty deeply with holes with a knitting-needle, which often helps it. With the decrease of the great heat of the sun, the swelling also ceases. The cheese is not injured except in appearance, the taste being improved. But, if the swelling is very considerable, it makes the cheese hollow. If the milk and cheese dishes are not very cleanly washed and rinsed out, the cheese gets a wrinkled crust, and begins to ferment.

Sweet milk cheese, three or four months old, is turned and aired only once a week in dry weather. Many cheese-makers also sprinkle the cheeses daily, for a week or two after they are fourteen days old, with beer and vinegar, or with vinegar in which saffron has been extracted, by which it gets not only a beautiful yellow color, but is also protected from flies.