The Cottenham Cheese is a variety of cream cheese manufactured in Cottenham, near Cambridgeshire, that is considered superior to the Stilton, as the herbage upon which the cows feed gives the milk a peculiar fragrance.
The Parmesan is made in several parts of Lombardy. It is quite celebrated. Many suppose it is made from goat’s milk, but it is simply from cow’s milk skimmed. The meadows of the Po are noted for extremely rich herbage, and the peculiarities of the Parmesan cheese are owing in part to this, together with the mode of manufacturing it. Half the milk to be used is allowed to stand sixteen hours, the other half but six. It is then heated and coagulated in a boiler, and broken up fine, without removing, by sticks with cross-wires; then scalded once more till the curd has separated from the whey and become quite firm. It is then taken out, drained, salted, and pressed. The best Parmesan cheese is kept four years before cutting.
The Cheddar is similar to the Parmesan; but very little of the best quality is now made, and that which is generally imported for it is inferior.
The Dunlop is one of the best Scottish cheeses, made only of new milk, but there is nothing peculiar in the mode of making it.
A peculiar kind of cheese in Lincolnshire is known in London as New Cheese. It is made wholly from cream, or sometimes morning’s milk, warm from the cow, is used, and the cream of the day before added to it. It is made quite thin, pressed gently two or three times, then left to cure for a few days, when it is ready to be sent to market for immediate use. It is greatly esteemed for eating with radish and salad. This cheese is easily made in any family when sufficient cream can be spared. Stir in a table-spoonful of rennet to a quart of warm cream; when the curd is “set,” spread a cloth over a sieve and lay the curd into it to stand for twenty-four hours, when it may be put into a small hoop, a wet cloth and a board laid on top, to press and drain it a little, and in a few hours it will be ready for use.
The Swiss Cheese has a peculiar flavor and richness, which can be gained only from the mountain pastures. Some varieties are mottled and highly flavored by the bruised leaves of the melilot.
In Sage or Green Cheese, the curd is colored and flavored by bruising the fresh green leaves of sage, marigold, parsley, or corn leaves, and mixing with the curd. Among the Romans it was customary to flavor with thyme and other sweet herbs.
Cream Cheese is simply cream dried sufficiently to be cut with a knife. Green rushes are plated or sewed together and laid on the bottom of the hoop, which must have holes all through it for the whey to run off freely. On these rushes a quantity of good thick cream is laid; another plait of rushes or Indian-corn leaves is put on top of the cheese, so that it may be turned without handling. The cheese should not be more than an inch to an inch and a half thick. The thinner it is made the sooner it ripens. It is now kept in a warm place for a few days to sweat or ripen, but it requires much care and good judgment, as too great heat or cold is injurious.
In Thuringia and Saxony a cheese is made of five pounds of the best potatoes, half steamed, pulverized and reduced to a pulp, and well beaten and mixed into ten pounds of sweet curd; a little salt is added, then it stands three or four days, and is again thoroughly broken up and kneaded, and then pressed into little baskets for the whey to drain off, then made into balls and dried in the shade. They keep well, and improve with age, and are said to excel in flavor the best cheeses made in Holland.
We are indebted for much information respecting foreign cheese to Webster’s “Encyclopedia of Domestic Economy,” a very useful and valuable work for all housekeepers.