Cheese

(chez.) [A. S. cyse.] The curd of milk coagulated by means of a rennet prepared from the lining membrane of a calf's stomach. In the preparation of C., the milk is gently heated to a temperature of 110°1120, and placed in a large wooden tub, where the rennet is added, and the operation of earning goes on. In about half an hour the curd is sufficiently formed. The liquid whey being pre ed out, the curd is chopped into small pieces of the size of a walnut by a knife called a curd-cutter; salt is added, and the fragments of curd introduced into a cloth placed in a cheese-vat, or che art, which is a wooden tub of varying size and shape, perforated at the sides and bottom. The whole is then put under a cheese-pre and subjected to great pre ure, which consolidates the curd or ca seine, and at the same time squeezes out the remaining portions of whey. After two or three hours, the half-formed C. is turned and re-turned, each time being subjected to renewed pre ure, till in about two days it is sufficiently compacted. It is then removed from the cheese-vat, and placed on a shelf in a dry airy room, where, being repeatedly turned, it gradually dries, and gets aged or seasoned sufficiently for market in about six months. There are many varieties of C., which partly owe their difference to the food of the cows, but in greater part to differences in the mode of treating the milk. The principal descriptions of English C., most of which are succe fully imitated and even improved upon in this country, are the Cheddar, Cheshire, Derby shire, Dunlop, Gloucester (single and double), Lincoln shire, Norfolk, Wilts hire, and Stilton. This last, which is nearly double the price of all other English C., is made in Leicestershire by adding the cream of the evening's milk to the new milk of next morning. The Roque fort, Neufchâtel, and Brie, are the best known of the French cheeses. The Parmesan, obtained from Parma in Italy, owes its fine, rich flavor to the superior herbage on the banks of the river Pô. Swi C. is flavored with herbs, and especially that of Gruyère, which is very pleasant to the taste. The imports of C. into the U. States for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1871, amounted to $10,311; while the exports of American C., during the same period, amounted to $8,752,990 (gold values). [s. 171]