When thus formed the cheese is dipped for 1 or 2 minutes in fresh whey heated to 126° (in winter 131°) and pressed with the hands in the mold for another 2 minutes when it is carefully wiped off by rolling on a fine cloth to remove the last drop of whey. The cheese is then wrapped in a fine cloth, placed in the mold and put to press, in the Spring for 5 to 7 hours, later in the year for 12 hours. The cloth is now removed and the cheese is put in a larger mold which is placed in a water-tight salting box provided with a cover and a drain-hole in one end. The first day a pinch of salt is put on the top of the cheese and the next the whole cheese is rolled in damp salt, turned and put back in the mold, a liberal quantity of salt being placed on the top. This is repeated every day until the cheese from being soft and elastic becomes hard which as a rule takes 8 to 10 days for a 4 lb. and 12 days for a 10-12 lb. cheese. Finally the cheese is left a few hours in the brine collected in the box, washed, wiped and placed on the shelf in the curing room.
The curing room should be light and well ventilated, never above 72° nor below 45°. Windows must not be opened to admit dry wind or moist air. If too dry the cheese will crack and if too moist it will be covered with deleterious yellowish red fungi. The cheese is turned daily the first month, later every other day or twice a week. When 24 to 30 days old the cheese is soaked for one hour in water of 68 to 77°, washed with a brush, dried for 20 to 40 minutes in the sun and returned to the shelf. This is repeated two weeks later and then the cheese is painted with linseed oil and left on the shelf until shortly before shipping when it is scraped with a sharp knife and painted according to the demand of the particular market for which it is prepared; yellowish with Annatto for England and Spain, red with Turnsole for other countries. When dry it is rubbed with a little butter and red color.
Swiss Cheese.—The Swiss Gruyere or Emmenthal also belongs to this class. It is characterized by its form and size, being large, round and flat, weighing 100 to 140 lbs. or more, and by the large holes which are wanted in Swiss, but not tolerated in American or Dutch cheese. It was formerly supposed that first-class Swiss cheese could only be made in the Alps, but very good imitations have long been made in Northern New York and in Wisconsin. Besides in the usual large round form, the same as the genuine imported Emmenthaler, American Swiss or “Switzer” is also made in blocks, six inches square and twenty inches long, weighing 25 to 30 lbs.
Until lately Swiss cheese has been made in the old-fashioned way, the factory and tools being of the simplest description. The milk was heated in a copper cauldron hanging on a crane, enabling the cheesemaker to swing it on or off the fireplace. Nowadays the kettle is usually jacketed and heated with steam. The round form is still preferred to the American cheese vat, however, as it adapts itself better to the peculiar method of handling the curd.
Swiss cheese
The milk is set with rennet at a temperature of 90° F. in summer and 95° in winter, sufficient rennet being used to make a firm curd in thirty to forty minutes. But very little color is added. The curd is cut with a long, sharp wooden knife, the “cheese sword,” first one way into sheets, then, as soon as the cuts stand clear, beginning to expel the whey, crossways, into vertical sticks, two inches square.
Scoop
