Either a steam-heating or self-heating vat is used (the steam-heating vat is preferred) and temperature increased about one degree in five minutes. The curd is heated to 98° F. in winter, and to 105° F. to 110° F. in summer. After temperature is up, it is stirred occasionally with a rake until the whey is drawn at 0.14 to 0.15 of 1 per cent acidity.
The curd is hand-stirred as soon as the whey is nearly drained off, and raked to each side of the vat to drain more thoroughly, when it is quickly stirred again to keep it from lumping or matting. Salt is now added at the rate of 1½ pounds to 100 pounds of curd, and stirred in thoroughly several times. During the salting process, cold water is allowed to run under the vat, the hot water having been run off previously.
Curd is put into cloths at a temperature of 80° to 85° F. No cheese hoops are used. Two sets of press cloths are necessary; one set is ready to use while the other is still on the cheese in the press. These press cloths are about one yard square. The press cloths are all laid out evenly one on top of the other, as many as there are cheeses. They are then taken together and spread out over the top of a large, open tin milk-pail, and pushed down in the center to the bottom of the pail, with the edges hanging over the top. A common one-gallon lard pail is used to measure the curd into the press cloths. A lard pail full will make a cheese weighing six and one-half pounds, which is the popular size. After a pailful has been put into the press cloth, the four corners are caught up with the left hand, while with the right hand the curd is formed round and the press cloth straightened and the other corners in turn taken up. The press cloth is now taken up tight over the curd with the left hand, while the cheese is given a rolling motion on the table with the right hand, pressing at the same time to expel some of the whey. This twists the press cloth tight over the curd, where it is tied with a stout string. After fixing them all (as many as there are cheeses) in this way, they are ready for the press.
The cheeses are pressed between two wooden planks, 12 inches wide, 1½ inches thick, by whatever length is required for the number of cheeses to be pressed. One plank is nailed on supports at a convenient height from the floor on a little slant for the whey to drain off better. The cheeses in the press cloths are placed at the proper distance apart so they do not touch. Then the other plank is put squarely over the top of the cheese and levers about four feet long at an interval of five feet are placed over this plank, from a cleat in the wall, on the other end of which is placed a heavy weight of about 100 pounds, which acts as an automatic pressure. The cheeses are left in the press until the next morning, when they are taken out and put on the shelves in the curing-room. The cheeses have no bandage or covering, and do not seem to crock, and they form a very good rind.
The cheese is a sweet variety, weighs six and one-half pounds cured and cures in about three weeks ready to ship, and sells at 16 to 25 cents a pound wholesale. Most of the work seems to lie in forming and rolling the curd in press cloths before pressing. Trouble is experienced by the makers, especially in warm climates in summer, in not having the milk at a uniform acidity when rennet is added. Great improvements could be made in this cheese by using an acidimeter, paraffining and curing the cheese in an even temperature, not much over 60° F.
Old and hard Jack cheese is also employed for grating and cooking, while the fresh is used for the table.
221. The washed-curd process has been developed in recent years largely in the state of New York. In this method, a regular Cheddar curd is made up to the time of milling. This curd is washed or soaked in cold water during or directly after milling. The theoretical object of this washing is to carry away bad flavors and to reduce over-development of acidity by washing away all traces of whey. However, cheese-makers soon found that it increased the yield and this led some to carry it to extremes.
After the curd has been milled, it is covered with cold water. The temperature of this water ranges from 50° F. to 70° F. The curd is stirred in this water for various lengths of time according to the judgment of the cheese-maker. This time varies from five minutes to one hour. Sometimes the vat is partly filled with water and the curd milled directly into the water. This process has certain advantages and disadvantages.
The advantages are: if too much acid has developed in the curd, this washing will reduce it so that the cheese will not be sour. Sometimes when bad flavors are present in the curd, washing will tend to overcome or remove them. Its disadvantages are: the larger yield due to excessive soaking tempts the makers to soak curd beyond the time needed to relieve the initially sour condition. Curd soaked in this way produces cheeses containing percentages of water so high as to lower their quality. This increases the yield sometimes as much as 3 to 5 per cent. Such a cheese is very soft in texture and does not cure like a Cheddar cheese which has not been washed. Part of the lactic acid, milk-sugar[100] and the inorganic salts are removed by this washing. A washed-curd cheese will sometimes rot, due to the activity of the putrefactive bacteria, and to the lack of the restraining effect of the lactic acid-forming bacteria. Some washed-curd cheeses are so soft that they will not retain their normal shape.
A washed-curd cheese is never sour because the milk-sugar and lactic acid have been removed by washing.