Fig. 46.—Curd scoop and pail. dipped with a flat-sided curd pail or a curd scoop into the hoops ([Fig. 46]).
206. Pressing the curd.—The natural changes sought in the curd require a period of at least five hours between the time of setting (addition of the rennet) and the pressing of the curd. Less time than this involves loss in yield and quality of the cheese. In other words, the time requirement for these changes cannot be ignored. The object of pressing is not primarily to remove whey but to produce the physical conditions essential to ripening the cheese in a mass and put it in convenient form for handling. The whey should have been removed during the cooking and cheddaring. When ready for the press, the temperature of the curd should be about 80° to 85° F.; it should be brought down to this point during the milling, salting and hooping processes. If the curd is put to press too warm or too cold, the following results may be expected:
Too high temperature during pressing produces several faults, as:
(1) Favors the development of undesirable ferments.
(2) Causes excessive loss of fat.
(3) Gives the curd pieces a greasy surface so that they will not readily pass into a compact cheese. If a cheese is greasy, the bandages will not stick.
(4) Favors the formation of mechanical holes in the cheese.
(5) Causes "seamy" color in the cheese by the collection of fat between pieces of curd.
Too low temperature has its difficulties, such as: