Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1892 — HOW CHEESE IS MADE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOW CHEESE IS MADE.

Facts Which Are Nut as Widely Known as They Should Be. The first stage in the making of cheese is that by which the curd is separated from the whey, says Harper’s Young People. This is done by heating the milk to a given temperature, varying accord to the season, and afterward adding a certain proportion of rennet. When the cheese is to be colored the dyeing matter is put in before the rennet. In less than half an hour after the heat has been applied the coagulation has so far progressed that the curd, from which the whey has been drawn, is ready to cut. Almost the only instrument used in the making of cheese is the curdknife, a curious-looking arrangement something like a double comb with long teeth. The immature chedse is both cut and stirred with this, the curd being separated into small bits, none of them being larger than an ordinary walnut. The stirring and heating must go on until the curd has reached a proper stage of what is called “digestion.” It is then torn into narrow strips like ribbons, for the curd by this time is as firm in fiber as the breast of a roasted chicken and indeed looks like It. These strips are then fed into the salting mill, where they are thoroughly mixed with salt and made ready for tho cheese-press. Enormous pressure is applied in this cheesepress in order that all the whey that •by any possibility remains may be squeezed out. From the press the cheese is taken

to the drying-room, a large, airy chamber, where it is left for days, months, or even years, according to the quality desired. It is frequently turned and much care is expended on it. All cheese must go through the same stages, the different varieties being made by certain combinations of cream, fresh and skimmed milk.

TAKING CHEESE OUT OF THE PRESS.