Useful Hints

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 266, 1 December 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

Useful Hints

EASY WAY TO MAKE CHEESE.

Not one dairyman in a hundred bothers to make a bit of cheese for the house, yet a 41b. cheese can be.made for a few pence, if you have the milk. Separated milk can be used if desired, though new milk is much better.

You need two gallons of milk, a 7 lb. treacle-tin with the bottom cut out, a round board cut to just fit inside the tin (termed a “ follower ”) and a smooth board to stand the tin on. Cut a kero.-tin lengthwise and put the milk in it. Stand it in a tub of warm water and keep the water at 84 deg. by adding more warm water at intervals. A dairy thermometer costing a couple of shil-

lings will make sure the heat is right. Add some rennet (directions are on the bottle) or some junket tablets. In about threequarters of an hour the curd should be hard enough to cut. To test it, see if it breaks cleanly over the finger; if it.does, cut it into squares about lin. each way with a knife long enough to reach the bottom of the curd. The whey will begin to come out, and then the heat must be gradually raised by means of added water till it is about 96 deg., not over; it takes about 20 minutes to arrive at this temperature.

Now pour off the whey and gently stir the curd for about three minutes—handle it gently or the cheese will be hard —and add two tablespoonfuls of salt. Put the board under the treacletin, line it with a square of butter muslin, and gently ladle the curd in, filling the bottom carefully. Fold the muslin over the top and put the follower on it; clap a small weight on the follower and increase the weight.

After the cheese has been in the press for 12 hours, turn press and cheese, over and put the weight on the other end. Leave it like this for another 12 hours. Then take the cheese out, rub the sides well with butter, and cover

sides and ends with muslin—the butter holds it in place. Put the cheese in a fly-proof cupboard for a month to cure, turning it everyday. It is then ready for eating.

SOAP WITHOUT CAUSTIC..

Clarify fat by boiling it with a liberal amount of water, and setting aside to cool; then remove the fat cake, and scrape impurities from the bottom. Take 71b. clean fat, free from salt, 5 tablespoonfuls borax, 3 tablespoonfuls kerosene and lib. resin, and set aside. Mix together half kero-sene-tin of clean wood-ashes, 21b. lime and 61b'. washing soda, and boil in a kerosene-tin of rain water for one hour, using a large container. Allow to stand all night, covered with bags to keep the heat in. Next morning strain it, and return the strained liquor to a clean boiler; then add the fat and other ingredients, and boil together for three hours, stirring constantly. Pour into a wetted mould, and when cold cut into bars and stack in an airy place for a month before using.

TO PUT IN AN AXE-HANDLE.

Get the old handle out by boring several half-inch auger holes

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