Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1883 — CHEESE MADE FROM BERRIES. [ARTICLE]

CHEESE MADE FROM BERRIES.

Nature has, says the London Lancet, it appears, provided an admirable substitute for rennet in the manufacture of cheese, the article being the berry of a plant known to botanists as withania coagulans. This shrub thrives in the Punjab and Trans-Indus territory, and has long been used by the Beloochees and Afghans to curdle milk. But its complete efficacy was not demonstrated until lately, when the berry was officially experimented with at a farm belonging to Sir James Ferguson, the present Governor of Bombay. The report published by the Government says that a complete success was achieved, a perfect curd being produced, and the cheese turning out excellent in every respect. The method of preparing the puneria—so is the berry called, from the Persian name of cheese—is to put some ounces into a small quantity of water, and to allow this to simmer by the side of a fire for twelve hours. At the end of that time about half a pint of the decoction will suffice to curdle fifty-five gallons of milk, the quantity of berries employed being two ounces.