Fig. 1.—Bottles of Starter.
When cottage cheese is to be produced in large quantities it is advisable to use a starter. Starters aid and hasten acid fermentation and tend to suppress and eliminate undesirable fermentation. A starter, in brief, is a quantity of milk in which the acid-forming bacteria have grown until the milk contains a great number of them. There are two kinds of starters, commercial and homemade.
Fig. 2.—Stirring in starter and rennet and taking temperature.
Commercial Starters
When cottage cheese is to be made on a large scale it is advisable to use a commercial starter, obtainable from a reliable starter company or through a dairy-supply house. The small package of starter, which may be either liquid or solid, is added to a pint of pasteurized skim milk and the milk covered and set away at 75° F. to sour. This is called a “mother starter.” After curdling or coagulation, a teaspoonful of the “mother starter” is added to a quart of pasteurized skim milk, which, when coagulated, is used to ripen the milk for cheesemaking. In pasteurizing milk for starters, it is heated to 175° F. and held at that temperature for 30 minutes, after which it is cooled to 75° F. before the starter is added.
Homemade Starters
Homemade starters are made as follows:
1. Clean thoroughly and boil for five minutes several pint fruit jars or wide-mouthed bottles, together with tops or tumblers for covering them. ([Fig. 1].) After boiling, keep the jars or bottles covered to prevent the entrance of bacteria.