Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Supplement/Cheese

CHEESE.—Having already detailed various methods of making cheese, that prevail in different countries, we shall complete our account, by inserting the following additional directions for preparing this important article, in domestic economy.

Bath Cheese:—Take 6 quarts of luke-warm new milk, to which should be added two quarts of spring water, and one large table-spoonful of rennet: when the coagulation is completed, which generally takes place in half an hour, the curd must be broken to pieces; then suffered to settle; and, after straining the whey, it should be put into square vats. In the course of an hour, it will be requisite to turn the curd; which operation must be repeated after some hours, or at night; and continued twice every day, till the cheese be fit for the table.

Hafod Cheese:—Let 30 gallons of new milk, and 3 gallons of sweet cream, be mixed with the juice expressed from one peck of picked marigold flowers. An ale-glassful (perhaps 1/4 of a pint) of sack or canary wine is then to be mixed; and a sufficient quantity of rennet contained in a bag, together with cloves and mace, should be added, in order to coagulate the milk. When the curd is formed, it must be broken very small; and, after carefully expressing the whey, it ought to be put into a cheese vat, covered with a wet cloth, and pressed by the hands. A pound of newly made butter is then to be incorporated with such a quantity of salt as may be required to season the cheese; and, after combining these ingredients with the curd, the whole must again be put into the vat, and treated in the manner above described. Now, the cheese must be submitted to the action of the press; the wet cloths be changed for dry ones, every four hours; and, after having been thus squeezed for 24 hours, it should be placed beneath a smaller weight, and pressed for one week; during which it ought to be turned every day: at the expiration of that period, it must be removed to a dry place, and shifted every other day, till it be ready for use.

Hafod Toasting Cheese, is prepared by warming new milk above the natural temperature; after which the rennet is added. As soon as the curd is come, it must be completely drained of the whey, and afterwards scalded with this liquor. The curd is now to be pressed in the cheese-mould, in order to render it as dry as its nature will admit; when it is broken into small pieces by the hand, and seasoned with a proper quantity of salt. Now it is again submitted to the press, and treated in the usual manner.—This process, though more simple than that pursued in Gloucestershire, produces a toasting cheese, little inferior to that prepared in the latter county.