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

Parmesan

The Parmesan is an Italian cheese, made of one meal of milk, allowed to stand sixteen hours, to which is added another which has stood eight hours. The cream being taken from both, the skim-milk is heated an hour over a slow fire, and constantly stirred till it reaches about eighty-two degrees, when the rennet is put in and an hour allowed to form the curd. The curd is thoroughly broken or cut, after which a part of the whey is removed, and the curd is then heated nearly up to the boiling point, when a little saffron is added to color it. It then stands over the fire about half an hour, when it is taken off, and nearly all the rest of the whey removed, cold water being added, till the curd is cool enough to handle. It is then surrounded with a cloth, and, after being partially dried, is put into a hoop and remains there two days. It is then sprinkled with salt for thirty days in summer, or about forty in winter. One cheese is then laid above another to allow them to take the salt; after which they are scraped and cleansed every day, and rubbed with linseed-oil to preserve them from the attack of insects, and they are ready for sale at the age of six months.

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.