TO MAKE SMALL CHEESE.

Patea Mail, 2 April 1881, Page 4

TO MAKE SMALL CHEESE.

If it is not too late in the season I will with the Editor’s permission, tell the inexperienced how to make cheese from a little milk. I strain the night’s milk into pans, stir into it the liquid from rennet that has been cut in small pieces and soaked in water a number of hours; the quantity must be governed by its strength. Mix thoroughly, and then cover with other pans to keep the milk warm until it runs to a curd, which should commence within ten minutes. After it is hardened cut into inch square pieces, and let it remain in the pans until morning; then place the cheese tongs, basket, and cloth over a tub, pour the curd very carefully into the basket to drain. Take the morning’s milk and proceed as at night; let it remain in the pans till the curd and whey begin to separate then add this to the other curd. Remove the whey by first raising each corner of the cloth a few times ; after an hour or two fold the cloth across, tucking each corner under the curd, pressing if slightly. After this break it about once an hour, placing on it a board and something heavy to press the whey and remove it from the curd. It should not be hurried, as the quality will be injured and the quantity lessened thereby. I cannot get a cheese into the hoop till the afternoon. I crush the curd with the hands, salt it, then put in a pan, press it down close, place a cloth and a cover over it, and put in a cool place. Repeat the next day as above, then mix thoroughly together, put in a hoop and press, turning twice a day till the whey is seasoned ; then rub with butter, and place on a shelf or in the cheese safe. Butter and turn each day till cured. I do not scald the curd. Traders will pay me more for cheese than they pay for factory-made. This is the way I have made my cheese during the thirty-five years I have been—A Farmer’s Wife, in the Marine Farmer.