Part 1

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HAND-BOOK

——ON——

CHEESE MAKING,

——BY——

GEO. E. NEWELL.

PUBLISHED BY THE MICHIGAN DAIRYMAN, GRAND RAPIDS.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

Thanks are due Messrs. Hunter, Walton & Co., of New York; Childs & Jones, of Utica, and D. H. Burrell & Co., of Little Falls, N. Y., for some statistical information contained in these pages.

COPYRIGHT 1889, BY E. A. STOWE & BRO.

PRESS OF FULLER & STOWE CO.

PREFACE.

This little work on cheese manufacture is inscribed to makers, dealers and consumers, in the hope that its careful perusal may be of aid to one and all. The prestige that American cheese holds in the markets of the world has been threatened from many quarters, but we who inaugurated the Cheddar system on this side of the Atlantic are not prepared to succumb to competition, however sharp, or to prejudice, however strong. American cheese will hold its own as long as it has a square quality basis to stand upon. We possess the most natural and privileged dairy regions on earth. Let us utilize to their fullest extent the great advantages within our grasp. Dairymen have of late been struck with consternation by the ascendency of Canadian cheese over the States’ product. The dairy press have been pounding away at the gruesome situation so vigorously that many cheese men have been frightened into the belief that Canada has a corner on gilt-edged quality and fancy quotations that is liable to continue indefinitely. The writer has no such apprehension, however, and sees no reason why an American cheese should not always be a peer of the best. There has been unanimous action all over the dairy portions of the Dominion to effect the slight advantage they now hold. If, in a strenuous endeavor to improve the product, our friends across the border have succeeded and at the same time have stimulated us to a like movement, then thanks be to them. Legitimate competition aids all mankind.

As the caption indicates, this treatise is from the pen of a practical maker, who analyzes cheese manufacture from a standpoint of practice and experience, and not theory. In elucidating to my readers the fundamental and collateral fabric of milk manufacture, I write from the desk of a cheese factory, with milk, utensils and product under my immediate and daily supervision. In these pages, I shall discard everything theoretic, and base the whole value of the book on its practicability. In doing so my constant thought shall be the elevation and supremacy of American cheese to the highest standard attainable. To this manual I especially invite the criticism of the cheese profession in general, trusting that it may be a convenient book of reliable reference to the experienced and a work of utility to the novice.

GEO. E. NEWELL.

LEONARDSVILLE, N. Y.

THE FACTORY BUILDING AND SITE.

The site for a cheese factory should be a well-drained, slightly elevated location, convenient to a copious and perpetual flow of water. The size of the building is, of course, to be measured by the amount of milk to be manufactured therein, but the same internal arrangement is needed alike in both small and large factories. The building should rest on a substantial stone foundation, with a free circulation of air underneath, and a complete system of troughs be appendent to carry all slops and whey beyond contaminating distance. It is unnecessary that the building be more than a story and a half high, unless the upper apartment is required for something besides curing cheese. The make-room should be ceiled, and the curing-room plastered. The make-room should be in the front of the building, with the engine-room on one side of it and the milk delivery window on the other. The curing-room should be in the back. Cut off all superfluous space about the building and have just enough room to be nicely convenient. Put an awning roof over the delivery window, wide and long enough to cover wagon and team. Set the vats broadside to the milk scales, with ends towards the outer door. The platform for the weighing-can and scales should be on a level with the top of the vats. A small office desk should be hung to the wall near the weigh can, and close at hand, so that every patron can see them, should be arranged the cream tubes, and lactometer. Tin utensils can be hung on pegs in the wall, and a stout, low shelf in one corner will support rennet and annottoine jars. Have the aisle between the vats wide enough to permit of easy passage, and at the farther ends of the vats sink a trough into the floor to carry off the whey. Have similar troughs under the presses. The floor should be full enough in the center to gravitate all slop toward the drains. It is useless to have a factory floor wet all of the time; keep it dry by a system of neatness. The curing-room should have an outside door, from which cheese can be loaded. An adjoining lean-to shed, for storing empty cheese boxes and housing fuel, is also a needed addition to the building. For a one day milk delivery factory, no ice-house is required. Build substantially and paint neatly, aiming to have a model-looking factory.

Beginning of the Cheese Factory System in America.

About the year 1853, a gentleman residing near Rome, Oneida county, N. Y., Jesse Williams by name, conceived the idea of manufacturing his neighbors’ milk in common with his own. This is the first known instance of manufacture in this country by associated dairies, although the method was previously in vogue in Switzerland. I quote from an old report: “It required a long time to create the demand which now exists in England for American cheese, and to Herkimer county, New York, belongs the credit of creating it and securing the trade. It was mainly effected by bringing a high degree of skill to bear upon the manufacture generally, thus producing not only a good article, but uniformly good, or as near uniform as is possible when made in different families. Cheese had been sent abroad in small amounts for many years, but when once by good quality and uniformity it had secured a firm foothold, the amount exported increased with astonishing rapidity. By gradual growth it had come to nine million pounds in 1859, in 1860 it amounted to twenty-three millions, in 1861 to forty millions, and the demand and supply have steadily increased ever since. It is a noteworthy fact that systematic attempts to improve the manufacture of cheese began to be made both in Somersetshire, England, and in Herkimer county, New York, about the same time; and also, that with no knowledge on the part of either of the progress made by the other, after lengthened experiments, both should have adopted substantially the same method; for it is a fact that the Cheddar and Herkimer methods so closely resemble each other that the only differences of any consequence are such as necessarily grow out of the difference of climate. Their process differs from most methods mainly in two particulars; first, in employing milk which has attained a proximate degree of acidity, although never enough to be sensible to the taste, instead of such as is quite new; and, second, in the separation of the whey from the curd by causing its contraction and precipitation, instead of depending mainly on mechanical means. The improvements thus introduced within a comparatively recent period have resulted in several important advantages: First, a material reduction of labor; second, the production of a larger amount and a better quality of cheese from a given quantity of milk; and, lastly, the cheese made by this method requires less time for the ripening process, and thus is sooner ready for the market.

Utensils Necessary to Stock a Factory.

A boiler of moderate capacity, with fittings complete; milk vats with steam pipes and connections; patent galvanized iron cheese hoops; a gang press; weigh can with large gate; milk conductor to convey the lacteal fluid from the weigh can to the cloth strainer over the vat; common sized scales that will weigh at least 600 pounds; small sized scales for weighing cheese; two curd knives, one with horizontal and the other with perpendicular blades; large wheel with crank and endless rope for hoisting milk; two stone rennet jars of a capacity of ten gallons each; two thermometers, one for the make and the other for the curing-room; jar for keeping annottoine; syphon and tin strainer for drawing whey from the vat; a self-salting curd mill—a curd mill is now indispensable to a factory, and a self-salting one is indispensable where only one man is employed; rubber mop, curd broom and floor broom; milk book for keeping accurate account of all business transacted in the establishment, including daily receipts of milk from patrons; a set of glass tubes in a case, for testing milk as to the amount of cream it contains and comparing its state of maturity; two water pails and one curd pail; a heavy curd scoop; two dippers, one of three and the other of six quarts capacity; glass graduated jar and lactometer for testing milk to locate water—be sure and purchase a lactometer gauged for trying milk at 80° Fahrenheit, many being gauged for 60° Fahrenheit, and of little use in hot weather unless you have ice handy to chill the milk designed for the test; stencils, case and brush for dating cheese and branding boxes; tin funnel for conveying whey from the vat to the outside tank; curd rake for agitating the product when cooking; a cheese tryer; a curd sink is not now strictly essential, although some makers still prefer to use one.

In glancing over the above list we will mention some of the articles that can be supplemented by utensils of a more primitive and cheaper make. Such a retrograde change is not, however, desirable, although sometimes in a small factory where the receipts to the manufacturer are limited, strict economy has to be practiced in order to leave a margin of profit. With economists of necessity the boiler can be discarded and an old-fashioned under-heater vat, with a hot water tank attached, made to do service. I know of dozens of small factories throughout Central New York who get along admirably with such apparatus. In the matter of press and hoops you can do better without the gang press than you can without the patent hoops. Remember that it is no economy to go back to the primitive hoop that makes necessary the hand bandaging of every cheese. If obliged to go without the gang press, get hoops that can be bandaged before the curd is put in them, so that two cheese can be pressed under one screw in an old-fashioned press. In such a case wooden followers would be required. One pair of scales can be got along with at a pinch, although two pairs would save a great deal of transferring and extra work. Do not get along with one curd knife—you need both the horizontal and the perpendicular, in order to cut the raw curd evenly and economically. A crane can take the place of a large wheel for hoisting milk if you consider it more convenient. Keep rennet in nothing but stone jars or vessels and keep at least ten gallons always prepared ahead. Jugs are often used for annottoine, although an open jar admits of easy dipping and accurate measurement. Have your tinner make you a long, narrow gill cup, to which should be soldered an upright six-inch handle with a shepherd’s crook in the end. Use the cup for measuring out the coloring; the long handle, which can be hung by the crook on the inside of the jar, precludes soiling the hands, clothing and floor with the scarlet dye. A curd mill of some sort is positively necessary in order to facilitate good, even stock; do not leave one out of the list of apparati under any consideration. I prefer a self-salting mill, not only on account of the ease with which curd can be ground but also for its superior mechanism in thoroughly mixing the salt into the curd as fast as it is torn by the teeth. In grinding curd with a common machine, the torn shreds quickly re-amalgamate into an almost solid mass that often requires harsh manipulation to separate. Then, again, the salt being sprinkled by hand over the outer surface of the freshly-torn curd sears and burns it before it can be worked into the mass. With a self-salter, the saline condiment is equally distributed through all parts at the proper limit of acid formation, thus preventing the curd from packing solidly and making the quality even and fine.

MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE.

COAGULATION OF MILK.

If the milk you have in your vat is mature, or, in other words, slightly tending toward sour, heat it as rapidly as possible when preparing for the application of rennet. In the cool extremes of the season heat milk to 86° Fahrenheit and in warm weather to 85° before rennet is applied. If the milk is all right as to sweetness, as the bulk of milk is, heat it up to the desired point gradually, stirring it gently at frequent intervals with a long-handled dipper. You stir for the purpose of keeping down the cream and evenly distributing the warmth that is permeating the lacteal mass. You stir it with great gentleness and care because milk globules are eggs in miniature, and, like their large relatives of biped production, they must be handled with care. If you wish to heat to 85° and have an under-heater vat or fire flue beneath the milk, withdraw the fire before it has quite reached that point, as the after warmth will carry it up a degree or two. Be perfectly precise in all such little points, for on them hinge big results.

With milk in normal condition as to maturity, standing at a temperature of 85° in both ends of the vat, and with no cream visible on the surface, you are ready to take another step in the course of manufacture. If colored cheese are desired, now apply annottoine sufficient to give a rich, golden hue. Know exactly by experiment its strength as a dye, always know the quantity of milk to a pound and portion out accordingly. Work the coloring into the fluid with the same gentleness with which you have heretofore manipulated it while raising the temperature. When the milk is all of one even, yellow tinge, attesting that the annotto is represented equally in every part, it is ready for the real inceptor of cheese, rennet. The tendency of modern cheese making is toward quick coagulation of milk. The larger infusion of rennet necessary for this purpose begets cheese that can be quickly cured for a market where they are expected to be soon consumed. The old rule of coagulation in twenty minutes is now nearly obsolete, although it will always hold good for cheese of long keeping qualities. Fall made cheese that are expected to be consumed during the winter months should be strengthened for age by coagulation in from fifteen to eighteen minutes. When we are dealing with the average spring and summer make, trade demands more perishable stock and we must cater to it. If you do not know the strength of your rennet and you want the milk to thicken in eight or nine minutes, as it should do, previously test the lactic juice by putting a teaspoonful into a tumbler of milk kept warm at 85°. If the glass of fluid thickens in five minutes, you need one quart of such rennet juice for every 800 pounds of milk to effect coagulation, as stated above. If the tested quantity thickens in less or longer time, a proportionate less or greater amount is required for your purpose. Measure the rennet extract with exactness, so that there will be no miss in its proper adjustment to the milk, and then incorporate it into the vat of lacteal fluid. In infusing it into the milk structure, manipulate your dipper with the same caution that has characterized your former attitude toward the fragilely constructed fluid under your hand. After stirring for five minutes, withdraw the dipper and let the surface of the milk come to a calm. Then pass the bottom of the empty dipper lightly over the vat to drive back any particles of cream that may be struggling to the surface. The milk will soon begin to roll up in the wake of the tin utensil in your hand in a rapidly thickening wave. Immediately withdraw the dipper, for the rennet has accomplished its mission. Turning to your vat cover, stretch it tightly over the fermenting milk. The cover mentioned should consist of a strip of canvas cloth or sheeting running the entire length of the vat and lapping slightly over its width. The cloth should be tacked to lath or other light wooden strips the width of the vat, and these supports should be about two feet apart. When not in use, the cover can be rolled up like a section of carpeting and is not at all awkward to handle. Place the cover in a closed form on one end of the vat, and, unrolling it as fast as you walk, you can stretch it to the other end in half a minute, thus keeping your milk snug and close. I prefer to use such a cover every day during the season, and they are indispensable in spring and fall. Without some such device the crust of the rapidly forming curd is chilled, retarding the action of the rennet, and the temperature of the whole mass is perceptibly lowered, which is not only undesirable but positively detrimental to the natural and perfect formation of cheese.

In the course of twenty or thirty minutes after coagulation examine your crude cheese material and see if it is ready to cut up. Thrust the forefinger into the mass, and if the curd will split cleanly in front of it, it is ready for the knives. Milk should stand about forty-five minutes after the infusion of rennet before it is cut, but if the milk is very mature in quality rennet will act on the caseine more spontaneously. It may be firm enough to cut before that time; if, in such a case, the same amount of rennet had previously acted slowly on a proportionate quantity of milk, you can at once consider the quick action as a fair warning from nature that you must scald your curd in haste to keep ahead of the swiftly multiplying acid germs. As previously stated, as soon as the curd mass will cleave brittlely over the finger prepare your knives. First pick up the one with horizontal blade and hold it a second in hot water. This will warm the steel so that it will not chill the curd. Cut the mass lengthwise, turning corners deftly without lifting the instrument once until you are through. Then lay this knife aside for its work is done. Insert the perpendicular knife also in hot water and with it cut the curd first crosswise, then lengthwise, then crosswise again, being sure to lap over the course of each cut. The curd is now in small cubes that are fast discharging whey from their severed cellular system. They gravitate toward the bottom of the vat. If the curd has been cleft by the blades, gently and with great care, the rising whey has a clear, greenish cast, attesting that it is freed from most of the albuminous substances of the milk and will render a good ratio to the patrons.