Foods and Their Adulteration: Origin, Manufacture, and Composition of Food Products; Description of Common Adulterations, Food Standards, and National Food Laws and RegulationsWiley, Harvey Washington
Science
Foods and Their Adulteration: Origin, Manufacture, and Composition of Food Products; Description of Common Adulterations, Food Standards, and National Food Laws and Regulations
Wiley, Harvey Washington
Food; Food adulteration and inspection
There are two common methods of making these cheeses which are in
vogue in the United States, namely, the “stirred curd” or “granular”
method and, second, the Cheddar method. (Bulletin 104, Department
of Agriculture of Pennsylvania, 1902.) The latter one is the more
extensively used. The second product does not differ essentially in
character from the first, though the latter method, it is claimed,
gives a more solid cheese and one of more uniform character and
with a slightly less content of moisture. Since the Cheddar method
has practically come into sole use, displacing the first method,
a description of the Cheddar method alone will be sufficient to
illustrate the method of making large cheeses which are now so common
on the American market and which have such a well merited reputation.
The process is divided into eight parts: First, coagulating the milk;
second, cutting the curd; third, heating the curd; fourth, removing the
whey; fifth, cheddaring the curd; sixth, milling the curd; seventh,
salting and pressing the curd; eighth, curing the cheese.
_Rennet._--As has been said in the description of cheese making, the
material which is most useful in the precipitation of the curd is
rennet. The rennet is the secretion of the stomach of various animals,
that of the calf being most highly priced for cheese making. The fourth
stomach of the animal is the one which is used in the manufacture of
rennet. The aqueous extract made from these stomachs contains a ferment
which has the property of coagulating casein in a very high degree.
One part of good rennet preparation from healthy stomachs of calves
will coagulate 1000 parts of milk. In former days rennet was freshly
made and used at the factories. At the present time it is largely
prepared on a commercial scale and sold to the cheese maker. It is
highly important that the rennet used in cheese making should be of
the best quality, as an inferior grade gives a bad taste and color
to the cheese. Just as in the manufacture of fermented beverages and
making of bread the character of the yeast is a dominant factor in the
nature of the finished product, so it is even to a greater degree in
the case of rennet. Those who purchase the rennet already made should
therefore be certain it is of a quality to give the desired character
to the cheese. The greater the amount of milk fat in milk the larger
the proportion of rennet, since the milk fat protects to some extent
the casein from the action of the ferment. Experience has shown also
that during the summer the rennet acts more readily upon the milk,
probably due to the higher temperature. Care should be taken to avoid
the use of any excess of rennet, since anything more than the amount
necessary to conduct the coagulation is apt to add an unpleasant flavor
to the cheese. The curd also in such cases is less cohesive and makes a
tougher and drier product which does not lend itself so readily to the
ripening process.
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