IT is quite impossible here to give more than the merest outline of the steps taken in preparing the various sorts of cheese manufactured in this country. The processes will, moreover, be more fully described in a future volume of this series. Meanwhile, the reader may be advised to study the three pamphlets issued by the Royal Agricultural Society dealing with the practices of making Cheddar, Cheshire, and Stilton cheeses respectively. A brief summary may, however, be useful to those who can supplement this by a few actual observations of practical cheese-making by skilful operators.

In some ways, and by many connoisseurs, Stilton is considered the finest of English cheeses. The first step in its manufacture is the addition of Hansen’s (or other) rennet, at the rate of one drachm to four gallons, to the fresh-strained milk when the milk has a temperature of from 80° to 85° F., the making-room being kept at a temperature of about 60° F. The whole is well stirred in a vat for eight minutes. When, in an hour so, the milk has completely turned, and the curd is ready for cutting and ladling, straining cloths, from thirty-six to forty-five inches square, are placed in earthenware curd-sinks, rods being used to support the sides. The curd is then ladled out of the vat by means of a half-gallon ladle, and about three gallons of curd are placed in each straining cloth, the plugs of the curd-sinks being in position. When the curd has stood for an hour and a half, open the plugs, drain off the whey, replace the plugs, tie the straining cloths, and tighten them every two hours until night, drawing off the whey each time. Then empty the curd on to the curd-tray, and leave it all night. On the next morning draw off the whey, cut the curd into three-inch cubes, and leave it to drain for a couple of hours. The milk from the next milking is treated in like manner. On the afternoon of the second day the two curds are thoroughly mixed together, broken up to the size of large filberts, salted at the rate of an ounce to three and a half pounds of curd, and placed into cheese hoops placed on round pieces of wood covered with “cheese greys.” The hoops are put on the drainer, and turned every two hours during the first day by means of loose calico-covered discs over their top surfaces, similar to those which served as their basis. The temperature of the room whilst draining is going on must be about five decrees higher than that of the making-room. After the first day the cheeses are turned three times daily. In about a week the cheese can stand alone, and should be removed from the hoops, calico binders taking their place. The cheeses are still to be kept on the draining shelves, fresh binders being applied daily; the outside of the cheese being gently scraped with a table knife at each binding. As soon as a dry crust begins to form, the binders are to be removed. The cheeses are to be kept at a temperature of about 55° F., and given plenty of air. They require turning daily. In about a month the cheeses are to be placed in a dark store-room having a temperature of 60° to 65° F., and are to be turned and brushed daily. In about six months they are fit for the table.

In making Cheddar cheese, the night’s milk is placed in a vat, and left until the following morning, being kept fairly cool. If much cream has risen by the morning, this must be skimmed off, added to the morning’s milk, and well stirred. The morning’s milk must then be heated by the pan being placed in a vessel containing hot water until its temperature is raised to a point not far short of, but never exceeding, 95° F. The evening’s milk is then added to it, and the joint temperature brought to about 80° to 85° F. Rennet is added, as in the case of Stilton cheese. In about an hour, when the curd breaks readily and clearly, as if cut, the curd is to be cut by a long thin knife into two-inch cubes. In about five minutes the curd is to be further broken up for about fifty minutes by the “breaker” until the pieces are of the size of peas, the whey keeping green all the while. Allow the whey to drain and separate for five or ten minutes, when it should be partly baled or syphoned off, heated to 130° F., and returned so as to raise the total temperature to 90° to 95° F., the curd being well stirred during the return of the heated whey, which process should be gradual, extending over ten minutes or more. The whey should now rest above the hard and shotty curd, which sinks to the bottom of the vat. In about a quarter of an hour the whey is drawn off, the curd is cut up, and the pieces are piled in a mound. Keep it warm by covering it with cloths, and in a quarter of an hour again cut it into pieces, turn it, and arrange it afresh in a mound. It is again covered for half an hour, then removed to a cooler, cut into small pieces, and covered for another half an hour. This is often again and again repeated until the curd is ripe for grinding. The curd having been ground, pure salt at the rate of an ounce to three pounds should be carefully dredged over, and mixed into it. The curd should then be placed in the cloth-lined moulds, and subjected to the press for twelve hours. The cloth is then changed, the cheese turned, and again pressed for twenty-four hours. This is repeated for four days, when the cheese is finally removed from the mould, bandaged after the manner of Stilton, and kept in a temperature of 65° to 70° F. for six weeks, being turned daily the while, and then in a temperature of 60° to 65° F., when it is turned on alternate days for another six or eight weeks.

Cream Cheese.—There are several soft cheeses well worth the attention of the small dairy owner. Simple cream cheese is the easiest of all, for one has only to take a quart of thick cream, put it with two drops of rennet into a napkin which has been freshly rinsed out in cold spring water, and sprinkle a little salt over it. Tie up the cream in the napkin as tightly as possible, and hang it up in the dairy. It may be eaten in twenty-four hours. The napkin must be changed at night, and again in the morning, for a fresh one wrung out in cold water. When the cream cheese comes out of the dining-room, it must be again tied up in a clean damp napkin and taken immediately to the dairy.

Grewelthorp Cream Cheese is equally simple in its manufacture. Take one quart of new milk, and put it with a few drops of rennet in a warm place, where it must remain for twenty-four hours. Then put in a little salt, stir the milk well, tie it up in a cloth, and hang it up in the dairy to drain. If a richer cheese is required, add half a pint of cream to the new milk.

A number of soft cheeses may be made with the help of some tinned iron cylindrical moulds open at both ends. These moulds may be of various diameters and depths. Some loose squares of wood, some entire and others perforated, of various sizes, to serve as bottoms and tops of the moulds, must also be provided; and straw mats of the same size as the boards are also desirable. A good average size for the moulds is five inches in diameter, and four inches in depth. About two quarts of milk are required to make one cheese for this size mould.

To make Camembert, the rennet diluted with water is added to milk of a temperature of about 85° F., and the whole is stirred for three minutes. It is then covered for about four hours, until no curd adheres to the finger when placed on its surface. The curd is then ladled in slices into the moulds, each mould being placed on a straw mat, with a board below, resting on a sloping table. The full moulds are allowed to drain for about six hours in a temperature of 60° F. A clean mat and board are then placed at the top of the mould, the latter inverted, and the previous base removed and cleaned. Repeat this changing and inversing twice a day for two days. Then remove the cheeses from the moulds, sprinkle some salt on top and bottom, and stand them on straw or straw-mats in a temperature of about 50° to 55° F., a free current of air being carried through the drying-room. The cheeses require turning each morning and evening for another three days, then every morning for a week, and afterwards on alternate days. In about a fortnight, when the cheeses cease to stick to the hand when touched, they are put in a cool (about 50° F.), dark, slightly damp cellar to ripen for about another fortnight, being turned on alternate days.

Gervais Cheese.—Messrs. Long and Morton, in their book “The Dairy,” give directions for preparing a Mignon or Gervais. This cheese is made of a mixture of cream and milk set at a temperature of 65° F. Six drops of Hansen’s rennet are sufficient for two and a half quarts of milk and one quart of cream. The curd is fit to cut in from six to eight hours, when it is removed into a cloth, in which it is allowed to drain until it is sufficiently solid and consistent to press.

Removed into a clean cloth, it is laid within a wooden frame with open sides, and pressed with a close-fitting follower of wood, heavy enough to cause the whey to drain away without any loss of cream. This pressure, with one or two manipulations, with the object of maintaining evenness of consistence, continues until the curd is as thick as an ice cream, when it is pressed into specially made paper-lined moulds. It may be eaten about three days later.

To pot Cheese.—A pleasant form of potted food is made by pounding together in a mortar a pound of cheese, three ounces of quite fresh butter, and half a table-spoonful each of castor sugar and made mustard. This mixture should be packed in jars, covered with clarified butter, and securely covered. It should not be kept longer than a fortnight.