The milk is set at about 80° with rennet sufficient to coagulate it in 1½ to 2 hours. To cut or break and stir the curd, tools similar to those used in the manufacture of Dutch cheese are employed and stirring is continued until the pieces of curd are about the size of peas when the whey is dipped off and the curd is further broken with the hand and placed on a cloth to drain. In fifteen minutes it is ready to be put into the hoops which are either of glazed stoneware or perforated tin, 8 inches in diameter by 4 in. high.
Ground stale, moldy bread is sprinkled in the curd as it is put into the hoop, at the rate of 1 part of bread to 10,000 parts of curd. This moldy bread is prepared from 2 parts of wheat flour and 1 part of rye flour leavened with sour yeast and vinegar and baked hard. The loaf is placed in a dark, moist cellar to mold. In six weeks it is penetrated with mold when it is dried at 86° and pulverized, forming the powder used for inoculation into the cheese-curd.
When the hoops are filled they are placed in large wooden boxes at a temperature of 65° to 70° for the whey to drain off. The first few days the cheese is turned three times a day, later once a day, and when five days old it is brought into the curing room where it remains until it is firm enough to be shipped to the large cold storage establishments, where it is taken care of until ready for the general market.
In the “caves” a high degree of moisture, a low temperature—40° to 50°—and pure air are essential conditions.
The cheese is first salted by being rubbed repeatedly with salt on all sides. The slime forming on the surface is brushed or scraped off so as not to prevent the admission of air, which is essential to the curing. In order to further facilitate the penetration with air the cheese is now pricked with numerous needles by means of a machine and placed on the shelf in the cave where the proper moisture and temperature are maintained.
Various fermentations are now developing, one after another, regulated by scraping, ventilation, etc., until in six to twelve weeks the cheese is ready for the market and is packed for shipment in paper or in tinfoil and in wicker baskets or airtight boxes, according to destination,—for home consumption or for export.
Curing room in a Roquefort cheese factory (G. Ellbrecht)
Parmesan Cheese is an Italian cheese made mostly in the Valley of the River Po and named from the City of Parma. It is produced from partly-skimmed milk and is allowed to become hard and dry, being used grated with macaroni.
The milk is set with rennet at a comparatively high temperature, about 95° F., and when it is firmly curdled it is broken up and stirred rather vigorously, which makes the curd fine and dry. Color is now added—powdered Saffron—at the rate of 0.5 gram to 100 kg. milk. The curd is cooked slowly under constant stirring to a temperature up towards 100° when the whey should be perceptibly acid.