SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1894. CHEESE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4660, 28 February 1894, Page 2

SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1894. CHEESE.

One achievement may be placed to the credit of Wfiirar&ps pastures and that is an almost perfect cheese of a certain class, a cheese which fetches acom« parativoly hipli price is the Borne market mid bringd to the enterprising producer & comparatively low one. Yet it is (lingular that while New Zealand is ranking cheese ut perhaps lourpencts per pound and selliiig it in London at a shilling, it is importing cheese from England whioh is made there at about eightpi-nce a pound and sold in the Empire City at two shillings a pound, Wairarapn enterprise taps the remote and unprofitable London market while it negleots the fat, rich profitable market atjit* own doors The other day we enquired the price of Gorgonzola cheese in Wellington and were told that it was two shillings a pound. The Gorgonzola is a very popular and palatable cheese whioh is much sought after nil over the world, In VVillingtoa it is in demand at clubs, leading hotole, and amongst families who know " what'B what" and can afford to eat of the tree of kdowledge. Wo do not see why this high priced cheese could not be made in this district, and in order to give makers a chance to produce it we give below the method of making it. We should bfi glad to boar from any oftko cheese-makers of the district whether it be practicable to manufacture it. Limited quantities in the local market would undoubtedly be three or four timeß as profitable as the statutory Wairorapa cheese, The following is the formula The milk, while warm from the cow, is '.veil curdled with rennet. The quality ot the cheese depends much on that of the rennet, and experience guides as to the quantity rerequired. In 15 or 20 minutes, when tho milk is coagulated, and the whey separated, the card is hung in hemp cloth bags to drain. Tho morning-drained curd, inolosed in light, flexible wooden bands, covered on their inside surface with hemp cloth, is placed on an inclined board, strewn with rye chaff. Being of two milkings. the curd is partly warm, partly cold, and though mixed, oaro is taken to form tho upper and lower strata of the warm; because it is cementltious. As hot and cold curd never perfectly unite, minute interstices remain in the cheese, and, while maturing, green mold, known as parlsoy, forms and gives the stracobino the delicious taste for which it is famous. The curd is further drained during tho first day of the process, by 2 or 3 turnings. On the following morning, when of some consistency, the cloth being removed, its value iB determined by weighing, After 3or i days, fermentation begins, and tho wooden bands are removed; it is then, ouco daily, for 8. or 10 days, alternately salted on Its upper, aud lower sides, 4 02,0! pulverized salt being, on an average, used pel foim of 331bs, Xhooolor changes in a month to pinkish-white, if good; to black, if bad; when blaok, the crust is soft and the cheese is perishable in summer; it theorust is sufficiently hard, tho shade is improved by 1 or 2 dippings in salt water. Tho time of maturity depends upon the temperaturo {which is best from 10 dejj. to 15 deg. Centigrade), manner of making, and the quality of the milk.