Filling molds, pressing and dressing Edam.—The molds, which are described later in detail, are well soaked in warm water previous to use, in order to prevent too sudden chilling of curd and consequent checking of separation of whey. As soon as whey is drawn off, as indicated above, one begins to fill the pressing molds ([Fig. 27]). The filling should be done as rapidly as possible to prevent too great cooling of curd. When the curd has been put
Fig. 27.—Edam cheese mold. into the molds, its temperature should not be below 88° F. Unless care is taken to keep the curd covered, the portion that is last put into the molds may become too much cooled. In making Edam cheese on a small scale, it is a good plan to squeeze the moisture out with the hands as much as possible and then break it up again before putting in the molds, when the curd should be pressed into the mold firmly by the hands. The molds should be filled as nearly alike as possible. The cheese should weigh from 5 to 5¼ pounds each when ready for the press. When the filling of molds is completed, they are put under continual pressure of 20 to 25 pounds for about twenty-five or thirty minutes. While the cheese is being pressed, some sweet whey is heated to a temperature of 125° or 130° F., and this whey should not be allowed to go below 120° F. at any time while it is being used. When the cheeses are taken from their molds, each is put into the warm whey for two minutes, then removed and dressed. For dressing Edam cheese, the ordinary cheese bandage cloth is used. This is cut into strips, which should be long enough to reach entirely around the cheese and overlap an inch or so, and which should be wide enough to cover allbut a small portion of the ends of the cheese when put in place. Before putting on the bandage, all rough projections should be carefully pared from the cheese. In putting on, the cheese is held in one hand and the bandage is wrapped carefully around the cheese, so that the whole is covered, except a small portion on the upper and lower surface of the cheese. These bare spots are covered by small pieces of bandage cloth of a size sufficient to fill the bare surface. The bandage is kept wet with the warm sweet whey, thus facilitating the process of dressing. After each cheese is dressed, it should be replaced in the dressing mold, care being taken that the bandage remains in place and leaves no portion of the surface of the cheese uncovered and in direct contact with the mold. The cheese is then put under continual pressure of 60 to 120 pounds and kept for six to twelve hours.
185. Salting and curing Edam.—There are two methods which may be employed in salting,—dry and wet. In dry-salting, when the cheese is finally taken from the press, it is removed from the press mold, its bandage is removed completely, and the cheese placed in another mold, quite similar, known as the salting mold. Each cheese is placed in a salting mold with a coating of fine salt completely surrounding it. The cheese is salted in this way once each day for five or six days. Each day the cheese should be turned when it is replaced in the mold, so that it will not be rounded on one end more than the other.
In the method of wet-salting, the cheese is placed in a tank of salt brine, made by dissolving common salt in water in the proportion of about 1 pound of salt to 2½ quarts of water. Each cheese is turned once a day and should be left in the brine seven or eight days. When the cheese is taken from the salting mold or salt bath, it is placed in warm water and given a vigorous, thorough brushing in order to remove all slimy or greasy substances that may have accumulated on the outer surface. When the surface is well cleansed, the cheese is carefully wiped dry with a linen towel and placed upon a shelf in the curing-room. In being put on the shelves, the cheeses should be placed in contact so as to support one another, until they have flattened out at both ends so much that they can stand upright alone. Then they are moved far enough apart to allow a little air space between them. Another method of securing the flattened ends is to support each cheese on opposite sides by wedge-shaped pieces of wood. After being placed on the shelves in the curing-room, they are turned once a day and rubbed with the bare hand during the first month, twice a week during the second month and once a week after that. When any slimy substance appears on the surface of the cheese, it should be washed off at once with warm water or sweet whey. The special conditions of the curing-room will be noticed in detail below. When the cheeses are about two months old, they can be prepared for market in the following manner: They are first made smooth on the surface by being turned in a lathe or in some other manner, after which the surface is colored. For coloring, some carmine is dissolved in alcohol or ammonia to secure the proper shade, and in this color-bath the cheeses are placed for about one minute, when they are removed and allowed to drain, and as soon as they are dry the outside of each cheese is rubbed with boiled linseed oil, in order to prevent checking. They are then wrapped in tin-foil, which is done very much like the bandaging. Care must be taken to put on the tin-foil so that it presents a smooth, neat appearance. The cheeses are finally packed in boxes, containing twelve cheeses in each box, arranged in two layers of six each with a separate partition for each cheese.
186. Equipment for making Edam cheese.—Careful attention must be given to the moisture and temperature of the curing-room. This room should be well ventilated, quite moist and its temperature kept between 50° and 65° F. These are conditions not easy to secure in any ordinary room. Some form of cellar is best adapted for these conditions. The amount of moisture can be determined by an instrument known as a hygrometer. In a curing-room suited for Edam cheese, the moisture should be between 85 and 95 per cent, or a little short of saturation. When the temperature is between 50° and 65° F., the moisture is between 85 and 95 per cent if the wet-bulb thermometer is from 1 to 2° F. (or ½ to 1° C.) below the dry-bulb thermometer. Cheese will check or crack and be spoiled for market, if the degree of moisture is not kept high enough.
Aside from the molds, press and salting vat, the same apparatus that is used in making Cheddar can be used for Edam cheese. The pressing mold is turned preferably from white wood or, in any case, from wood that will not taint. Each mold consists of two parts; the lower constitutes the main part of the mold, the upper portion is simply a cover. The lower portion or body of the mold has several holes in the bottom, from which the whey flows when the cheese is pressed. Care must be taken to prevent these holes being stopped up by curd. This part of the mold is about six inches deep and six inches in diameter across the top. The salting mold has no cover and the bottom is provided with only one hole for the out-flow of whey; in other respects it is much like the pressing mold.
187. Qualities and yield of Edam cheese.—The flavor of a perfect Edam cheese is difficult to describe. It is mild, clean, and pleasantly saline. In imperfect Edams, the flavor is more or less sour and offensive. In body, a perfect Edam cheese is solid, rather dry and mealy or crumbly. In texture, it should be close and free from pores. In the experiments here reported the amount of fat in 100 pounds of the partially skimmed-milk varied from 2.45 to 3.20 pounds and averaged 2.77 pounds. Of this amount, from 0.30 to 0.51 pound of fat was lost in the whey, with an average of 0.39 pound. The yield of cheese from 100 pounds of milk varied from 9.60 to 11.82 pounds and averaged 10.56 pounds.
188. Gouda cheese.[86]—This Dutch variety is a sweet-curd cheese made from whole milk. In shape, the Gouda cheese is somewhat like a Cheddar with the sharp edges rounded off and sloping toward the outer circumference at the middle from the end faces. They usually weigh 10 or 12 pounds, though they vary in weight from 8 to 16 pounds. They are largely manufactured in southern Holland, and derive their name from the town in which they were first made. Fresh sweet milk that has been produced and cared for in the best possible manner should be used.
189. Method of manufacture.—The processes of manufacturing Gouda cheese are as follows: