Chapter III: Part 3

A good, properly manufactured cheese will never huff up on the surface, or swell the bandage to the point of protuberance. Cheese often huff slightly when curing, and afterward flatten into a smooth, firm surface, but they are never No. 1 stock. The writer can remember fifteen years back when makers did not understand working gaseous curds as they do now. Sales and shipments were far between then, and cheese accumulated in great numbers in factories. It was no uncommon thing in the years ’73 and ’74, in passing through a curing room containing 500 or 600 cheese, to find a large percentage of the umber covered with immense blisters, that held in retention offensive smelling gases. Every day the maker would lance these unhealthy swellings with a wire or goose quill, only to have them shortly after bulge out in another place. Besides these partially affected cheese, there were often days’ makes of those that would huff all over, swell out like huge puff balls till a slight jar would have rolled them from the shelves. These were the product of floating curds with the gas all left in. A decade and a half ago farmers did not take the same care of their milk that they do now. They were not versed in dairy literature to any extent, and did not see the importance of speedily expelling animal heat from milk or of always furnishing their cows with wholesome drinking water. Hence, tainted milk was more often the rule than the exception. With the present bettered quality of milk and the improved skill of makers in handling it, inflative cheese ought to now be foreign to the curing room. Bad taints are at present seldom met with, but slight ones creep in unawares, unless the maker is vigilant, and then it is his business to eradicate the ill-savor. Sour until acid has completely overcome the gas, grind twice, and give the curd a prolonged airing by frequent stirring. Try the prolonged stirring on common curds that are hot—too hot to go immediately to press—and notice how it will enhance the flavor of the cheese.

FACTORY UTENSILS.

As a maker, I have had opportunities of seeing milk in all stages and in all conditions, and I have found it an invariable rule that the milk furnished by farmers who read and studied the dairy question in all of its phases; who were conversant with dairy literature and adopted the most improved methods extant for producing an abundant, pure and rich flow of milk, were enough affected by the ideas absorbed from library and press to be unconsciously moulded by their influence. On the other hand, farmers who never read; who avoided all progressive methods as “new-fangled notions” and clung to the primitive ways of their ancestors, forgetful that those ancestors adopted nothing new because there was no new thing to adopt, furnished milk sometimes good, often poor, and never profitable to themselves. A man who doesn’t have an opinion on the relative value of milch breeds, who doesn’t know how to feed scientifically and who has narrow conceptions of systematic dairying, generally is, in this competitive epoch, an agricultural cipher.

The other day the writer inspected two cheese factories, separated by only a few miles, each being located on admirable sites and accessible to water. Previous to my visit I had been told that the maker in B——’s factory had, during the past season, produced poor, uneven stock, which was a surprise to his friends, as his trade reputation was excellent. On the other hand, I knew that the cheese from W——’s factory, although manufactured by a man of less experience than his rival, had sold at prices above the former’s and footed up a lower ratio. As soon as I had seen the interior of each building the sequel was made plain to me, and subsequent investigation proved it. The first named factory was a mere shell, furnished with utensils both primitive and worn out; the second was a tight, plastered structure and equipped with all of the paraphernalia essential to a modern cheese building. The competition was like running a pony express against a United States mail train.

A cheese factory needs good, improved utensils, just the same as a farm requires machinery of the latest patterns. It should have a boiler, because steam heating is cheaper, more under control and, consequently, safer for scalding than where fire under heating is employed. It should be furnished with a curd mill, because with one the maker has the acid almost completely under control. Without a mill, the whey must be retained until nearly enough acid has developed to meet the requisite gauge. Then it must be hastily drawn and hastily salted, with the whey not all out of it; too often the acid is in advance of the maker’s expectations. Cheese made in this way from day to day cannot help but be uneven in flavor, in salt and in acid. “Salting in the whey,” as it is called, without a mill is wasteful, too. As the whey flows off, the constant tendency of the curd is to pack, and hand manipulation to prevent this will start white whey, the life blood of the cheese, in wasteful quantities. With a mill to use, all this is changed. The whey can be drawn when but very little acid has appeared, and the curd, packed and drained, waits for the sourness to develop there. It matures more slowly than when submerged in whey, and when the right point is reached the iron teeth of the mill attack it and tear it up and salt it when in a _dry state_, which is a great advantage. The make-room should be supplied with a gang press and patent hoops, because one screw will compress a dozen cheese and solidify them more firmly than old fashioned single screws. A good cheese can be spoiled after it is in the hoop by insufficient pressing.

I consider the latest milk handling devices almost as essential in a modern factory or creamery as the practical knowledge of the maker. Not merely for labor saving purposes should manufactories be so supplied, but because the demands of present trade require dairy products of a complexion difficult to attain without. It is a “penny wise and pound foolish” policy to scantily furnish a butter or cheese plant when thereby the loss on one under price sale would have more than covered the deficiency in tools.

TO CHEESE MAKERS.

The main point why Canadian cheese is lately quoted higher than American is that they are ahead of us =on uniformity=. To obtain this a uniform Rennet and a uniform Color are most essential. No matter how careful the maker is, he can never get it as uniform as our

Chr. Hansen’s Rennet Extract

——AND——

CHEESE COLOR.

Taking into account the poor Rennets in the market, the saving by making your own Extract is very small; and as to Cheese Color, even if you did save 60 cents a gallon it would only cost you =5 cents more to color 1000 pounds of cheese=, a mere nothing if ours is at all more uniform and of a more natural shade, =bright, clean, creamy=, and not dull reddish.

Consider this, and give our Extract and Color a fair trial.

If you prefer Rennet in dry shape try our Rennet Tablets, which are quite as cheap and a great deal handier to use than powder.

Send for Price List to

CHR. HANSEN’S LABORATORY,
(Little Falls, N. Y.,) or
17 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO, ILL.

J. D. FREDERIKSEN, ESQ., BROCKVILLE, Ont., July 17, 1886.

CHR. HANSEN’S LABORATORY, LITTLE FALLS, N. Y.:

_Dear Sir_—Your Rennet and Color are positively the finest
that have ever been introduced into this section. I know this
personally. Our cheese are finer this year than ever before in
consequence of using those goods.

Yours respectfully,
D. DERBYSHIRE, Pres’t E. O. D. A.

CREAMERY, CHEESE FACTORY AND
DAIRY

MACHINERY AND SUPPLIES.

D. H. ROE & CO.,

CHICAGO, ILL.,

CARRY A FULL LINE OF ALL KINDS OF SUPPLIES, SUCH AS

Butter Cloth, Cheese Cloth, Cloth Circles,

RENNETS,

RENNET EXTRACT, RENNET TABLETS, CHEESE
COLOR, BUTTER COLOR, CHEESE GREASE,
SALT, BUTTER TUBS, CHEESE
BOXES, CHEESE BOX
STOCK, &c., &c.

ALSO A FULL LINE OF

Cream Vats, Milk Vats, Self Heating Vats, Churns,
Steam Boilers, Steam Engines, Separators,
Cheese Presses, Butter Printers,
Etc., Etc., Etc.

Send for Price List, and mention the “Hand-Book.”

Acknowledged to be the only proper CHEESE DRESSING on the market.

_Manufactured only by_ =B. J. JOHNSON & CO.,
MILWAUKEE, WIS.=

THE MICHIGAN DAIRYMAN.

_Official Organ of the Michigan Dairyman’s Association._

50 CENTS PER YEAR IN ADVANCE.

_Sample Copies sent Free._

_Address the Publishers_,
E. A. STOWE & BRO.,
Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Transcriber’s Notes

pg 12 Changed: the whole mass is preceptibly
to: the whole mass is perceptibly

pg 15 Changed: been thoroughly agitated vithout bruising
to: been thoroughly agitated without bruising

pg 16 Changed: slightly (perpaps in five minutes
to: slightly (perhaps in five minutes

pg 17 Changed: sure test of which I are aware
to: sure test of which I am aware

pg 19 Changed: A maker who can preceive
to: A maker who can perceive

pg 20 Changed: expel heat as to expugn the gaseous odors
to: expel heat as to expunge the gaseous odors

pg 21 Changed: tht last thing stirring up the surface
to: that last thing stirring up the surface

pg 33 Changed: the rennet or gastic juice it contains
to: the rennet or gastric juice it contains

pg 34 Changed: been secreted in their mammilary glands
to: been secreted in their mammillary glands

pg 35 Changed: seat on the bench of humilation
to: seat on the bench of humiliation

pg 36 Changed: inexorably exacts from the physicial
to: inexorably exacts from the physical

pg 37 Changed: As all patirons are served
to: As all patrons are served

pg 39 Changed: lengthway to lengthways (two times)

pg 45 Changed: afraid af financially losing
to: afraid of financially losing

pg 52 Changed: a way of expugning from the curd
to: a way of expunging from the curd

pg 52 Changed: benefit would accrue to dairy interetes
to: benefit would accrue to dairy interests

pg 55 Changed: scientific appliances for handling miik
to: scientific appliances for handling milk

pg 55 Changed: before it becomes an establisted
to: before it becomes an established

pg 58 Changed: who does’t know how to feed scientifically
to: who doesn’t know how to feed scientifically