Chapter II: The Dairy

Mrs. Mansfield, hearing how much her little grandsons had been pleased with the cows, after breakfast took them into the dairy, to show them what was done with the milk which those useful animals give in such large quantities. The dairy was a little room with a brick floor, facing the north, and kept very cool, by means of a latticed window that let in fresh air. It was necessary that it should be built in that way, because heat soon turns milk sour. Round the room were fixed a sort of trays lined with lead, which then were all filled with milk.

“Grandmamma, what is to be done with this milk?” inquired Arthur.

“It is set for cream,” answered Mrs. Mansfield; “and the cream will be made into butter.”

_Charles._ How is butter made, pray?

_Grandmamma._ Come here, and I will show you. The milk is poured into these trays, which are not deep, but broad, so as to cover a large space. When it has stood some time, the cream or greasy part, which at first is mixed with the milk, rises to the top in the manner you now see. Then it is skimmed off with this ladle, and put into a pan by itself. This is done twice a-day; and when there is cream enough, it is churned into butter.

_Charles._ Is there any churn here, grandmamma? Sister Kate has got a plaything churn, but I never saw one fit for real use.

Mrs. Mansfield pointed to a large barrel fixed on a stand, with a winch handle to turn it, and told him that was the churn. Charles was surprised, and said it was not at all like his sister’s.

_Grandmamma._ Perhaps not. Sometimes they are made like a pail, with a long stick to pull up and down; but these I have give less trouble, and, I believe, are now common.

_The Dairy._

_London. Published by W. Darton Junʳ. Oct. 5, 1815._]

_Arthur._ Well, grandmamma, how is this used?

_Grandmamma._ The cream is put in through that little square door, which is then shut quite close; and when the churn has been turned a good while, it is changed into butter.

_Charles._ So then butter is nothing but cream shaken about? I should like to see it made.

_Grandmamma._ You cannot see it now, my dear, because Rose churned yesterday. But I will give you a little cream in a phial: and you may shake it till you make it into butter.

_Arthur._ Oh, can _we_ make it so? I should like it very much indeed, if you please, ma’am.

Mrs. Mansfield fetched a phial, and the two boys amused themselves a long time with their experiment. But they found that with all their pains they could not turn the whole into butter; their grandmamma told them there was always some waste; that it was called buttermilk, and given to the pigs.

Arthur and Charles, quite proud of their success, went to look for Rose, that they might tell her they could make butter as well as she. They found her in the dairy, where their attention was drawn to a new circumstance. Rose was standing before a large tub, full of a white substance rather thicker than jelly, which she was very diligently employed in breaking.

They forgot the butter they had intended to boast of, and both began to ask a variety of questions, which she answered with great good humour.

_Both the Boys._ What is that for? What are you doing now, Rose?

_Rose._ Making cheese.

_Charles._ Making cheese? Well, since I have been at my grandpapa’s, I have seen things I never saw before.

_Arthur._ But how do you make it, Rose? What have you got there?

_Rose._ Curd.

_Arthur._ What is curd?

_Rose._ It is made from milk, master Arthur. When the cream is taken off, we take the milk and mix it with rennet, and then—

_Arthur._ Rennet! What is that?

_Rose._ A sour juice that is made by boiling a part of the inside of a calf. We put a little rennet to the milk, which makes it part into curds and whey. This thick white part is the curd, and the thin watery part is called whey.

_Arthur._ Is that the whey people take for a cold?

_Rose._ No. That kind of whey is made with wine instead of rennet; but the curd parts just in the same manner as this.

_Charles._ I will ask our Sally to let me look at it the next time she makes whey. But why do you break it?

_Rose._ That there may be no lumps. Wait a little, if you please, and you shall see how I go on.

She then took a large round bag made of coarse cloth, into which she put all the curd, and pressed it with very heavy weights in order to squeeze out as much of the whey as she could. This done, she turned it out of the bag into a vat which has holes like a cullender, and, leaving it to drain, then told them the cheese was finished.

“I did not know,” said Charles, “it was so easy to make cheese. But what is the rind, pray?”

“’Tis the same as the rest,” replied Rose; “only, being left to the air, it grows hard in time.” Then leading them into another room, she showed them a great number of cheeses; some were still soft, having been lately made; others, that had been longer kept, were grown quite hard.

“What is the whey good for?’ asked Charles, as they came back through the dairy.

“We give it to the pigs,” said Rose.

“So then,” said Arthur to himself as he walked away, “_butter and cheese are both made from milk; but the butter is the greasy part, and the cheese is the curdy_.”

“Yes, master Arthur,” said Rose, “you are right, for that is our way of making butter and cheese in this country: but in many places, where richer cheese is made, they use the milk without skimming off the cream; and to make good cream cheese, the cream only is used when skimmed from the milk.”