Domestic Animals Part 10

So the milk of different animals will give cheese of unlike qualities.

The ewe-milk cheeses of Tuscany, Naples, and Languedoc, and those of goats' milk made on Mont Dor and elsewhere, are celebrated for qualities which are not possessed by cheeses prepared from cows' milk in a similar way. Buffalo milk also gives a cheese of peculiar qualities, which is manufactured in some parts of the Neapolitan territory."

Other kinds of cheese are made from mixtures of the milk of different animals. Thus the strong-tasted cheese of Lecca and the celebrated Roquefort cheese are prepared from mixtures of goat with ewe milk, and the cheese of Mont Cenis from both of these mixed with the milk of the cow.

Creamed or Uncreamed Milk.

Still further differences are produced, according to the proportion of cream which is left in or is added to the milk. Thus, if cream only be employed, we have the rich _cream-cheese_ which must be eaten in a comparatively recent state. Or, if the cream of the previous night's milking be added to the new milk of the morning, we may have such cheese as the _Stilton_ of England, or the small, soft, and rich _Brie_ cheeses, so much esteemed in France.

If the entire milk only be used, we have such cheeses as the _Cheshire_, the _Double Gloucester_, the _Cheddar_, the _Wiltshire_, and the _Dunlop_ cheeses of Britain, the Kinnegad cheese of Ireland, and the Gouda and Edam cheeses of Holland. Even here, however, it makes a difference, whether the warm milk from the cow is curdled alone, as at Gouda and Edam, or whether it is mixed with the milk of the evening before, as is generally done in Cheshire and Ayrshire. Many persons are of opinion that cream, which has once been separated, can never be so well mixed again with the milk, that a portion of the fatty matter shall not flow out with the whey and render the cheese less rich.

If the cream of the evening's milk be removed, and the skimmed milk added to the new milk of the next morning, such cheeses as the _Single Gloucester_ are obtained. If the cream be taken once from _all_ the milk, the better kinds of skimmed-milk cheese, such as the Dutch cheese of Leyden, are prepared; while if the milk be twice skimmed, we have the poorer cheeses of Friesland and Groningen. If skimmed for three or four days in succession, we get the hard and h.o.r.n.y cheeses of Ess.e.x and Suss.e.x, which often require the axe to break them up.

b.u.t.termilk Cheese.

But poor or b.u.t.terless cheese will also differ in quality according to the state of the milk from which it is extracted. If the new milk be allowed to stand to throw up its cream, and this be then removed in the usual way, the ordinary skimmed-milk cheese will be obtained by adding rennet to the milk. But if, instead of skimming, we allow the milk to stand till it begins to sour, and then remove the b.u.t.ter by churning the whole, we obtain the milk in a sour state, (_b.u.t.termilk_.) From this milk the curd separates naturally by gentle heating. But being thus prepared from sour milk, and without the use of rennet, b.u.t.termilk cheese differs more or less in quality from that which is made from sweet skimmed-milk. The acid in the b.u.t.termilk, especially after it has stood a day or two, is capable of coagulating new milk also; and thus, by mixing more or less sweet milk with the b.u.t.termilk before it is warmed, several other qualities of mixed b.u.t.ter and sweet-milk cheese may readily be manufactured.

Whey Cheese.

The whey which separates from the curd, and especially the white whey, which is pressed out towards the last, contains a portion of curd, and not unfrequently a considerable quant.i.ty of b.u.t.ter also. When the whey is heated, the curd and b.u.t.ter rise to the surface, and are readily skimmed off. This curd alone will often yield a cheese of excellent quality, and so rich in b.u.t.ter, that a very good imitation of Stilton cheese may sometimes be made with alternate layers of new-milk curd and this curd of whey.

Mixtures of Vegetable Substances with the Milk.

New varieties of cheese are formed by mixing vegetable substances with the curd. A green decoction of two parts of sage leaves, one of marigold, and a little parsley, gives its color to the _green cheese_ of Wiltshire; some even mix up the entire leaves with the curd. The celebrated Schabzieger cheese of Switzerland, is made by crushing the skim-milk cheese after it is several months old to fine powder in a mill, mixing it then with one-tenth of its weight of fine salt, and one-twentieth of the powdered leaves of the mellilot trefoil, (_trifolium melilotus cerulea_,) and afterwards with oil or b.u.t.ter, working the whole into a paste, which is pressed and carefully dried.

Potato Cheeses,

As they are called, are made in various ways. One pound of sour milk is mixed with five pounds of boiled potatoes and a little salt, and the whole is beat into a pulp, which, after standing five or six days, is worked up again, and then dried in the usual way. Others mix three parts of dried boiled potatoes with two of fresh curd, or equal weights, or more curd than potato, according to the quality required. Such cheeses are made in Thuringia, in Saxony, and in other parts of Germany. In Savoy, an excellent cheese is made by mixing one of the pulp of potatoes with three of ewe-milk curd; and in Westphalia, a potato cheese is made with skimmed milk.

Preparation of Rennet.

Rennet is prepared from the salted stomach or intestines of the sucking calf, the unweaned lamb, the young kid, or even the young pig. In general, however, the stomach of the calf is preferred, and there are various ways of curing and preserving it.

The stomach of the newly killed animal contains a quant.i.ty of curd derived from the milk on which it has been fed. In most districts, it is usual to remove by a gentle washing the curd and slimy matters which are present in the stomach, as they are supposed to impart a strong taste to the cheese. In Cheshire, the curd is frequently salted separately for immediate use. In Ayrshire and Limburg, on the other hand, the curd is always left in the stomach and salted along with it. Some even give the calf a copious draught of milk shortly before it is killed, in order that the stomach may contain a larger quant.i.ty of the valuable curd.

Salting the Stomach.

In the mode of salting the stomach, similar differences prevail. Some merely put a few handfuls of salt into and around it, then roll it together, and hang it near the chimney to dry. Others salt it in a pickle for a few days, and then hang it up to dry; while others pack several of them in layers, with much salt both within and without, and preserve them in a cool place, till the cheese-making season of the following year. They are then taken out, drained from the brine, spread upon a table, sprinkled with salt which is rolled in with a wooden roller, and then hung up to dry. In some foreign countries, the recent stomach is minced very fine, mixed with salt and bread into a paste, put into a bladder, and then dried. In Lombardy, the stomach, after being salted and dried, is minced and mixed up with salt, pepper, and a little whey or water into a paste, which is preserved for use.

In whatever way the stomach or intestine of the calf is prepared and preserved, the almost universal opinion seems to be, that it should be kept for 10 or 12 months, before it is capable of yielding the best and strongest rennet. If newer than 12 months, the rennet is thought to make the cheese heave or swell, and become full of eyes or holes.

Making the Rennet.

In making the rennet, different customs also prevail. In some districts, a bit of the dried stomach is put into half a pint of lukewarm water, with as much salt as will lie upon a shilling, is allowed to stand over night, and in the morning the infusion is poured into the milk. For a cheese of 60 lbs. weight, a piece of the size of a dollar will often be sufficient, though of some skins as much as 10 square inches are required to produce the same effect. It is, however, more common to take the entire stomach, and to pour upon them from one to three quarts of water for each stomach, and to allow them to infuse for several days. If only one has been infused, and the rennet is intended for immediate use, the infusion requires only to be skimmed and strained. But if several be infused, or as many as have been provided for the whole season, about two quarts of water are taken for each, and, after standing not more than two days, the infusion is poured off, and is completely saturated with salt. During the summer it is constantly skimmed, and fresh salt added from time to time. Or a strong brine may at once be poured upon the skins, and the infusion, when the skins are taken out, may be kept for a length of time. Some even recommend, that the liquid rennet should not be used until it is at least two months old. When thus kept, however, it is indispensable that the water should be fully saturated with salt.

In Ayrshire, and in some other countries, it is customary to cut the dried stomach into small pieces, and to put it, with a handful or two of salt and one or two quarts of water, into a jar, to allow it to stand for two or three days, afterwards to pour upon it another pint for a couple of days, to mix the two decoctions, and when strained, to bottle the whole for future use. In this state it may be kept for many months.

In making rennet, some use pure water only, others prefer clear whey, others a decoction of leaves, such as those of the sweetbrier, the dog-rose, and the bramble, or of aromatic herbs and flowers; while others again, put in lemons, cloves, mace, or brandy. These various practices are adopted for the purpose of making the rennet keep better, of lessening its unpleasant smell, of preventing any unpleasant taste it might give to the curd, or finally of directly improving the flavor of the cheese. The acidity of the lemon will, no doubt, increase also the coagulating power of any rennet to which it may be added.

The rennet thus prepared is poured into the milk previously raised to the temperature of 90 or 95 F., and is intimately mixed with it. The quant.i.ty which it is necessary to add varies with the quality of the rennet, from a tablespoonful to half a pint for 30 or 40 gallons of milk. The time necessary for the complete fixing of the curd varies also from 15 minutes to an hour or even an hour and a half. The chief causes of this variation, are the temperature of the milk, and the quality and quant.i.ty of the rennet employed.

Different Qualities of Cheese.

The temperature of new or entire milk, when the rennet is added, should be raised to about 95 F.; that of skimmed milk need not be quite so high. If the milk be warmer the curd is hard and tough, if colder, it is soft and difficult to obtain free from the whey. When the former happens to be the case, a portion of the first whey that separates may be taken out into another vessel, allowed to cool, and then poured in again. If it prove to have been too cold, hot milk or water may be added to it; or a vessel containing hot water may be put into it before the curdling commences; or the first portion of whey that separates may be heated and poured again upon the curd. The quality of the cheese, however, will always be more or less affected, when it happens to be necessary to adopt any of these remedies. To make the best cheese, the true temperature should always be attained as nearly as possible, before the rennet is added.

Mode in which the Milk is warmed.

If, as is the case in some dairies, the milk be warmed in an iron pot upon the naked fire, great care must be taken that it is not singed or _fire-fanged_. A very slight inattention may cause this to be the case, and the taste of the cheese is sure to be more or less affected by it.

In Cheshire, the milk is put into a large tin pail, which is plunged into a boiler of hot water, and frequently stirred till it is raised to the proper temperature. In large dairy establishments, however, the safest method is to have a pot with a double bottom, consisting of one pot within another, after the manner of a glue-pot; the s.p.a.ce between the two being filled with water. The fire applied beneath, thus acts only upon the water, and can never, by any ordinary neglect, do injury to the milk. It is desirable in this heating, not to raise the temperature higher than is necessary, as a great heat is apt to give an oiliness to the fatty matter of the milk.

The time during which the Curd stands.

This is also of importance. It should be broken up as soon as the milk is fully coagulated. The longer it stands after this, the harder and tougher it will become.

The quality of the Rennet.

This is of much importance, not only in regard to the certainty of the coagulation, but also to the flavor of the cheese. In some parts of Cheshire, it is usual to take a piece of the dried membrane and steep it overnight with a little salt for the ensuing morning's milk. It is thus sure to be fresh and sweet, if the dried _maw_ be in good preservation.

But where it is customary to steep several skins at a time, and to bottle the rennet for after-use, it is very necessary to saturate the solution completely with salt, and to season it with spices, in order that it may be preserved in a sweet and wholesome state.

The quant.i.ty of Rennet added.

This ought to be regulated as carefully as the temperature of the milk.

Too much renders the curd tough; too little causes the loss of much time, and may permit a larger portion of the b.u.t.ter to separate itself from the curd. It is to be expected also, that when rennet is used in great excess, a portion of it will remain in the curd, and will naturally affect the kind and rapidity of the changes it afterwards undergoes. Thus, it is said to cause the cheese to heave or swell out from fermentation. It is probable, also, that it will affect the flavor which the cheese acquires by keeping. Thus it may be, that the agreeable or unpleasant taste of the cheeses of certain districts or dairies may be less due to the quality of the pastures or of the milk itself, than to the quant.i.ty of rennet with which it has there been customary to coagulate the milk.

The way in which the Rennet is made.

This, no less than its state of preservation and the quant.i.ty employed, may also influence the flavor or other qualities of the cheese. For instance, in the manufacture of a celebrated French cheese, that of Epoisse, the rennet is prepared as follows:--Four fresh calf-skins, with the curd they contain, are well washed in water, chopped into small pieces, and digested in a mixture of 5 quarts of brandy with 15 of water, adding at the same time 2 lbs. of salt, half an ounce of black pepper, and a quarter of an ounce each of cloves and fennel seeds. At the end of six weeks, the liquor is filtered and preserved in well-corked bottles, while the membrane is put into salt-water to form a new portion of rennet. For making rich cheeses, the rennet should always be filtered clear.

On Mont d'Or, the rennet is made with white wine and vinegar. An ounce of common salt is dissolved in a mixture of half a pint of vinegar with 2 pints of white wine, and in this solution a prepared goat's stomach or _a piece of dried pig's bladder_ is steeped for a length of time. A single spoonful of this rennet is said to be sufficient for 45 or 50 quarts of milk. No doubt the acid of the vinegar and of the wine aid the coagulating power derived from the membrane.

The way in which the Curd is treated.

It is usual in our best cheese districts, carefully and slowly to separate the curd from the whey, not to hasten the separation, lest a larger portion of the fatty matter should be squeezed out of the curd, and the cheese should thus be rendered poorer than usual. But in some places, the practice prevails of washing the curd with hot water, after the whey has been partially separated from it. Thus at Gouda in Holland, after the greater part of the whey has been gradually removed, a quant.i.ty of hot water is added, and allowed to remain upon it for at least a quarter of an hour. The heat makes the cheese more solid and causes it to keep better.

In Italy, the pear-shaped _caccio-cavallo_ cheeses and the round _palloni_ cheeses of Gravina, in the Neapolitan territory, are made from curd, which after being scalded with boiling whey, is cut into slices, kneaded in boiling water, worked with the hand till it is perfectly tenacious and elastic, and then made into shapes. The water in which the curd is washed, after standing twenty-four hours, throws up much oily matter, which is skimmed off and made into b.u.t.ter.