In working with the hand molding tube ([Fig. 15]) the same care is required. Chilled curd is forced into a firm smooth mass with the plunger. It is removed and wrapped when it reaches the regular size of the variety.
All forms when molded go directly into the boxes and then back to the refrigerators until demanded for actual use. The details of the process differ according to the form made.
131. Skimmed-milk Neufchâtel.—Separator skimmed-milk is frequently made into curd by the Neufchâtel process. The absence of fat eliminates the largest element of loss in manufacture. Each stage of the making process, therefore, may be shortened. The demand that the curd shall be smooth and buttery in texture rather than rough or gritty requires the exercise of care in curdling of milk. The draining and pressing of the curd may be accomplished much more rapidly than in the fatty cheeses. The final product should differ from cottage cheese in smoother texture, milder acidity and, as a rule, cleaner flavor. In composition, the absence of fat must be largely compensated by leaving more water in the cheese. Such a product reaches the market with 65 to 75 per cent of water and perhaps 1.25 per cent of salt. Casein forms 20 to 30 per cent of the mass.
These cheeses are very perishable on account of their high water-content. The destructive effect of microorganisms both in the interior of the cheese and upon its surface is rapid.
Cheeses of this description may be found in the trade as cottage cheese, Neufchâtel style, and as Neufchâtel made from skimmed-milk; skimmed-milk Neufchâtel would be a strictly proper labeling.
132. Baker's cheese.—There is considerable market for skimmed-milk curd as Baker's cheese. This product is essentially skimmed-milk Neufchâtel curd, partially drained and sold in bulk. When the bakery is near by, the curd is frequently shoveled into milk-cans in very wet condition and sent directly from the factory to the bakery. If the distance is such as to require considerable time for transportation, the same care is frequently given as for Neufchâtel curd packed in bulk for storage and transportation.
Great variations in practice are found among the makers of this type of product. In some cases low grade skimmed-milk is handled on a large scale. Curdling is done quickly and little care is given to the details of flavor and texture in the curd. Working in this manner, two men are able to make a ton of such curd, and ship it out in milk-cans each day. The resulting product, although very deficient in flavor and texture, goes into manufactured specialties which conceal its deficiencies if considered as cheese.
133. Domestic Neufchâtel.—The name Neufchâtel, unless limited clearly by the label, should designate a cheese made from fresh whole milk. Cheeses of this group are produced in a small number of well-equipped factories scattered widely through the dairy states of the North and Northeast. Every factory uses one or more trade names for its product. The same product is frequently relabeled by the distributor who uses his own trade name instead of that of the maker.
The usual form of package is cylindrical, about 1¾ inches in diameter and 2½ inches long, or sometimes rectangular 2½ by 1½ by 1½ inches. The cheese is protected by wrapping in parchment paper closely surrounded by tin-foil. These packages vary from 2½ to 4 ounces. In some cases screw-topped glass jars are substituted for the tin-foil package. They are objectionable, first, because of cost and, second, because they are so commonly associated with less perishable products as to mislead either dealer or consumer into holding the product for too long a time. The paper or tin-foil package can be kept only at refrigerator temperature, hence automatically keeps its possessor reminded of the perishable nature of its contents.
Neufchâtel of the best quality made from whole milk testing about 4 per cent fat may be expected to fall within the following limits;[40] many grades contain more water than this at the expense of flavor and keeping quality: