In the manufacture of the Dutch Gouda, the Danish Export, and other
similar types, the “cooking” and matting of the curd, characteristic of
the English and American Cheddar, are more or less omitted. Otherwise
the process and the result are not greatly different. They are all
“hard” or solid cheese of the same class, though there are hundreds of
varieties in different localities, each with some peculiarity of its
own.
[Illustration:
Gouda cheese
]
=Gouda Cheese.=—The _Gouda_, like the _Danish Export_ cheese, is made
from whole or partly-skimmed milk which is set with rennet at 90° F. and
is coagulated, ready for cutting, in fifteen to twenty minutes. The curd
is broken with the “lyre,” so called, a frame on which piano wires are
suspended. The curd is but slightly “cooked” and the whey is drawn while
still sweet. After being pressed with the hands in the vat to squeeze
out the whey the curd, still quite warm, is put into wooden molds and
worked and squeezed in them with the hands for half an hour to eliminate
more whey, when the mold is placed in a regular press for 12 to 18
hours. To salt it the cheese is placed in a strong brine where it
remains for several days. It is then put on the shelf in the curing room
where it is turned and rubbed daily and in four to six weeks it is
marketed. The cheese is about 10 inches in diameter by 4 to 5 inches
high.
[Illustration:
The Lyre
]
=Edam Cheese.=—The ball-shaped red _Edam_ is also made in Holland by a
similar method to that of the Gouda.
Fresh milk is set at from 90° to 93° F. in summer and up to 97° in
winter,—colored to a rather high yellow with Annatto. Add sufficient
rennet to coagulate the milk in 8 to 15 minutes. Cut curd carefully with
the “lyre” and break with fork into very fine pieces, as small peas.
Leave to settle for 3 to 4 minutes, putting cover on the vat if the
temperature in the room is below 60°. When settled, the curd is gently
pushed into a heap which takes 5 to 6 minutes and the whey is removed
with a dipper. Weight is applied for 5 minutes and the tub or vat is
tipped so the whey will drain off while the curd is held back with the
dipper. This pressing is repeated twice more for 4 and 3 minutes
respectively.
[Illustration:
Curing room in a Gouda cheese factory
]
The curd should now be elastic and firm and show a temperature, in
winter of at least 83°, in summer at most 90°. If necessary the
temperature is regulated by pouring hot whey (not exceeding 104°) or
cold water over the curd.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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