Fig. 119.
The buyer who wishes to try the butter uses a long iron or steel borer, hollow inside, and furnished with a handle, as also seen in the cut. This not only enables him to test the quality but the uniformity of the butter in the cask.
Coloring of Butter.
—The practice of coloring butter is founded on the fact that we are accustomed to form our judgment at once of the qualities of the article from the whiteness or the yellowness of its color. Whiter butter is less attractive generally than yellow summer or grass-made butter. The color has come to be important to the seller, and artificial means are found to regulate it.
The coloring is made as follows: About a pound of butter is melted, so that the heavier parts sink to the bottom, when the light, clear fat on the top is poured into another dish. In this fat thus poured off is put a piece of annatto about the size of a walnut, wrapped up in a linen cloth, and it is then again put over the fire. The coloring matter of the annatto strains through the linen cloth, and turns the butter brown red, when it is allowed to cool off. When the butter is to be colored, some of this brown red is melted, salted, and mixed very carefully into the butter after washing. The quantity of coloring matter used depends on the color which the maker wants to impart to his butter, and a little practice soon enables him to take the right quantity. Others pour the coloring matter directly upon the butter to attain the same end.
In coloring artificially it is important to get a uniformity of color, which is the result of very thorough working. Colored butter must not be marbled.
The cream is sometimes colored before churning. The annatto is put into a clean beech-wood lye, and as much of this colored and strained lye is taken as is necessary to produce the desired color in the butter. It is then churned as usual.
Turmeric is sometimes used instead of annatto for coloring butter. It has no advantage, however, over annatto.
In many sections the butter is colored with an extract of saffron in water, or of marigold, or with the juice of carrots, which is applied to the cream before churning.
The coloring adds nothing to the quality or the taste. It is done for the sake of the looks; but it gives the butter a deceptive appearance.
Use of the Butter-milk.
—The butter-milk in the churn is poured into a great cask, which in large dairies, as a general rule, is painted blue outside and white inside, with broad black iron hoops. It stands generally in the kitchen covered with a wooden lid. Butter-milk is used either in cooking, or for calves or swine, or is sold.
Dairymen in the vicinity of large cities have barrels with broad, bright brass hoops, in which they carry their butter-milk to market. It is put into them through a bung-hole, and when full the wooden bung is wound with linen and driven in. In these barrels the butter-milk is carried to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc., sometimes by boats on the canals, sometimes on wagons, and by yokes, and there sold to the grocers at wholesale, to be again sold out by them. The butter-milk thus brings an income by no means inconsiderable to well-managed dairies.
The Manufacture of the different kinds of Dutch Cheese.
—From time immemorial, cheese, as an article of commerce, which has had a large sale, has brought an extensive income to the cattle-breeders and dairymen where its manufacture has been largely carried on, as everywhere in West Friesland, North and South Holland, and along the borders of the crooked Rhine in Utrecht.
Dairymen are not the only ones who enjoy the advantage which grows out of the cheese-trade; but a large number of other people derive considerable profit from it, and support themselves entirely by it. Even the commonalty of the cities, where the weekly markets for the sale of cheese are regularly held, derive a considerable revenue from the small taxes for carriage and market-dues, to which every seller has to submit.
The actual difference between the different kinds of cheese made in Holland is due in part to the form and size, and in part to the mode of making. Every sort has also a name derived from its peculiarities, or from the provinces or sections where it is made. The varieties of cheese best known in the markets in South Holland are the spice cheese, the sweet milk cheese, known also under the name of Gouda cheese, the so-called May cheese, the Council’s cheese, the Jews’ cheese, and the English cheese, made in many places.
Further up in North Holland, the North Dutch sweet milk cheese, as it is commonly called in the province, known in the foreign markets as Edam cheese, is almost exclusively made. A kind of sweet milk cheese is made to a limited extent, called Commissions’ cheese. In West Friesland, Utrecht, and South Holland, but few except sweet milk cheeses are made.
In making cheese, the utmost cleanliness is most carefully observed in all the operations. Whoever is intrusted with this work is required to display the utmost neatness in his whole person, as well as in the dairy-room; and the vats and other utensils are daily scoured, washed with lye, and washed out in water and rinsed. The greatest attention is also paid to the transport of cheese to the weekly markets in the cities; and in whatever way his load is carried, whether by wagon or in little boats, the person intrusted with it is always dressed in the so-called cheese-frock, a large white linen, which is used exclusively for this purpose. At the market itself the cheese is laid on a four-cornered bench, two feet high, and exposed to view in a glittering white linen cloth. But, in order to keep off all dust and impurities, a sail-cloth is raised over the whole, called the cheese-sail; or it is covered with a sail-cloth covering, or sometimes with clean straw. But in other places it is customary to carry the cheese on wagons, in a white linen cloth, and covered with a woollen cover, ready packed for sale at the markets.
Cheese-making in South Holland.
—Spice cheese from skim-milk, and sweet milk or Gouda cheese, are the only kinds made to any extent in South Holland. Spice cheese, which derived its name from the addition of spices, is a firm, flat cheese, of about twenty pounds weight, brought to market generally colored red. It is three quarters of a foot thick, and one and a half feet in diameter, and is made as follows:
Fig. 120.
The skim-milk is poured from the milk-pans into large tubs, and allowed to stand quiet till the cheesy matter has settled to the bottom, which requires, perhaps, half a day. Then the thin liquid on top is poured off very carefully, without stirring up the rest, through a strainer, into a large brass kettle, till it is full; but the thicker substance at the bottom is left, and not put into the kettle. Under this kettle a fire is made, and the milk heated to a certain degree, regulated by the judgment of the dairymaid, sufficient to warm other cold milk, but it must not boil. The fire is made in the kitchen, or in the summer-house, or in some other room called the cheese-house. When the milk in the kettle is properly heated, it is poured into the tub of milk which has been heated and allowed to get cold. This tub is an upright vat, open at the top, of uniform diameter, bound with wooden hoops, and generally left of the natural color of the wood; scoured very bright, but sometimes painted blue and the hoops black. It is seen in Fig. 120.
When the quantity of milk is large, the dairyman puts in as much rennet as he thinks necessary to curdle the milk completely; but before and during the addition of the curd the whole is thoroughly stirred, and this stirring is continued until the stick or wooden ladle used for the purpose will stand erect in the curd. Then the dairy-woman works the curd with her hands till no further effect of the rennet in curding the milk is to be seen. It is called the cheese-curd.
The rennet is prepared in the following manner: The maw or fourth stomach of a newly-killed sucking calf is taken from the other stomachs, carefully cleaned and cut into strips two inches wide, and then hung up in the chimney to be smoked and dried; or, in hot weather in summer, it is hung up in the sun. Well smoked and dried strips will keep a very long time. When these are wanted for use, they are very carefully washed and purified, and then laid in the salt brine from the butter-barrels, or in lukewarm salt water to soak. The liquid is put into bottles and laid in the cellar. For curding milk as much is taken as is thought to be necessary, which cannot be determined without considerable practice and experience. If too little is taken, the cheese is not fat enough; if more than the right quantity, it gives a disgusting acid taste. It is difficult, almost impossible, to state exactly how much rennet should be used with a certain quantity of milk, because this must be determined by its quality and its strength. Something like the following quantity is, however, taken: In a sixty-quart vat are placed about fifty rennets, prepared by drying, washing, and cutting, and a clear salt brine or butter-pickle of twenty to twenty-five degrees strength is added. In smaller quantities the proportion of rennet is about one and a half quarts to a rennet, or even less. This dried maw can be bought everywhere in packages of twenty-five pieces each.
Fig. 121.
One great point in cheese-making is to have a sufficient quantity of good rennet in store; for the older it grows the more powerful and effective it becomes, and the experienced cheese-makers, studying their own interests, know very well how difficult, hurtful, and time-wasting, it is to use fresh or new rennet. The assertion sometimes made that they use muriatic acid instead of rennet for curding the milk in Holland rests on an error, at least so far as the present methods are concerned. In earlier times, and for the poorest kinds, as the Jews’ cheese, muriatic acid was more or less used. At the present time, the rennet for those cheeses is prepared from the stomachs of calves some days old.
When the curd has sufficiently come, and has all been thoroughly broken, the dairy-woman puts a four-cornered linen cloth, called the cheese-cloth, which is used only for this purpose, and is only loosely woven, upon a small strong ladder laid over the edges of a low tub, and puts upon the cloth the proper quantity of curd, then ties up the four corners of the cloth, and presses with her whole strength, that the milk may drain off. This work is also done by men who can apply great strength, Fig. 121. The corners of the cheese-cloth are brought together, and the operator presses as hard as he can, in order to remove all the milk from the curd. But, as this is not possible with the hands alone, the whole is placed under a plank-press, and by this means as much of the milk as possible is pressed out. A strong cleat is nailed to a pillar in the wall at a convenient height from the floor,—say two feet,—so that the tub, ladder, and cheese-cloth, can be put under the plank, when the plank is pressed down upon the cloth and curd. At the other end of the plank the operator sits and presses down with the whole weight of his body, as seen in Fig. 122. The whey runs into the tub, and is generally used as food for swine. The pressure is continued till no more runs off.
Fig. 122.
After the complete removal of the whey, the curd remaining in the cloth has the form of the palms of the hands, and is pressed so firmly that it holds together when the cloth is removed. But it is again broken up, and put for this purpose into the breaking-tub, a low but broad, open tub, with wooden hoops, and made of strong staves, and is here worked over by the bare but cleanly-washed feet of the dairyman, or hired man. This working with the feet is continued, just as in kneading dough, till all is brought to a stiff paste.
Fig. 123.
Fig. 124.
When it has come to this consistence the forming of the cheese begins. The dairyman has for this purpose a cheese-mould standing before him, and lays on the bottom a layer of cheese without spice, and this is called the blind layer. The cheese tub or mould, Figs. 123 and 124, is used only for this first moulding. It is a wooden vat, made of staves from one to one and a half inches thick, and is nine and a half to twelve and a half inches in diameter, and about ten inches high, bound at the bottom and top with stout hoops. The bottom of oak-wood, put in very carefully, is pierced with holes for letting off any moisture that may remain in the cheese. On the top of the tub a cover is exactly fitted, to sink down upon the cheese when the pressure is applied. This cover is of oak, one and a half inches thick, and has a cross-piece three and a half inches thick, which serves as a handle.
The first layer of cheese is quite firmly pressed down or trodden into the mould with the hands or feet, and then follows a layer of curd mixed with spices. The mixture is made best by putting as much of the pasty curd from the vat into a tub as will form one layer in the mould. Over this the spice is strewn, caraway and some pounded cloves, and the mass is then worked over, when it is placed as a new layer into the mould. Upon the second layer some coarsely-pounded cloves are generally scattered, or they are stuck whole over the surface. After that the second layer is pressed in like the first, and the third follows, and so on till the mould is full. On the uppermost and firmly pressed layer is laid the cover. The mould thus carefully filled is now brought under a press, which, partly on account of its length, is called the “long-press,” and sometimes the “first” or “cheese press,” because the cheese first comes under it. This press is seen in Fig. 125. It stands on four short legs, and consists of upright beams fixed upon a platform, and a long beam, acting as a lever, with one end fastened by a rivet or bolt. The other end is loaded with weights to any desirable extent, as appears in the cut. The power of the press may also be increased or diminished by shifting the end of the lever to the lower or upper hole.
Fig. 125.
When the mould is put under the press it is set into a shallow, four-cornered wooden box or pan on the foot-board. This pan is furnished with grooves at the side, through which the whey can escape. The pressure may still further be increased by putting a block on the lid of the mould, as appears in the press. It is this powerful pressure which gives the cheese the high quality for which it is distinguished above others. The whey still remaining in the curd runs off through the holes in the bottom of the mould, when the strong pressure is applied, into the pan, and is caught in another pan which sits under the press.
Fig. 126.
When the cheese has stood two hours under the press, it is taken from the mould, surrounded by a clean linen cloth, and again brought under the press. The change of cloth is repeated once or twice after two or three hours’ pressing, and the cheese is left standing in the press over night. The next morning the cheese is brought under another press, under which it is subjected to still more powerful pressure, and receives its peculiar form. This press is seen in Fig. 126, and consists of a frame resting on four strong uprights, forming a kind of firm table. On the plate of the table lie four or six rollers, whose ends at both sides pass through holes in the standard pieces, and serve merely to assist in taking out the cheese. The pressure is obtained by heavy weights let down and raised by a kind of windlass fixed in two perpendicular standards. The cheese as it comes under this press is not in the mould, but is simply laid in a pan, as seen in Fig. 127. Before the pressure begins, however, the stamp or mark of the manufacturer, a key, a letter, etc., in iron, is laid upon the cheese, and upon that a square board. The pan and weight are lowered, so that the pressure begins and the stamp is impressed on the cheese, which becomes flatter, smoother, and firmer than before. The cheese is left under this press till it gets its final form, and the pressure in the pan is increased or diminished, according to circumstances.
Fig. 127.
When the cheese, after being pressed in both machines, has received its final form, it is placed in a long trough, called the salt-trough, which is generally in the cow-room behind the cow-stands. It has been already said that the cow-stall is used as a cheese-room in summer, when the cows are out to pasture. In this trough, a space deep and wide enough for the diameter of the cheese, from four to six cheeses can be laid. In the salt-trough the cheeses are salted as long and as thoroughly as is necessary. Observation and experience are needed here to get the right quantity of salt and the right time, that the cheese may receive a suitably firm crust or rind.
When the cheese in the salt-trough is sufficiently salted, it is put over a large tub, where it is properly washed in cold, fresh water, trimmed with a cheese-knife, and colored. For coloring, annatto boiled in water with some potash is used. After the coloring the cheese is rubbed with the beistings, or first milk of a cow newly-calved. The spice cheese gets its red color and firm, smooth rind in the coloring and washing in the beistings; and this distinguishes it from other sorts.
The colored cheeses are now laid upon shelves made for the purpose in the cow-stall used as a cheese-room, and turned daily till properly dried. When dry they are laid for sale in a cheese or store room. This room is connected with the house, or separated from the other rooms only by a thin board partition. This room, as well as the cow-stall, is kept extraordinarily clean,—scoured and aired, and used for nothing but the keeping of cheese.
Fig. 128.
Fig. 128 represents the cow-stall used as a cheese-room, in which the salt-trough is seen, and the dairyman and dairy-woman are occupied in turning and trimming the cheese.
Manufacture of Sweet Milk Cheese in South Holland.
—The best kind of sweet milk cheese is made in the vicinity of the city of Gouda, and on the gray and Dutch Yssel, from which circumstance it is often known by the name of Gouda cheese.
The making of this cheese is less difficult than that of spice cheese, but requires more attention and care, because the rich sweet milk is used for it. It is as follows: The milk as it comes fresh from the cow is strained through a hair-strainer into a large wooden vat or tub, or, in some large dairies, into a copper kettle, which stands on a peculiar tray or bench. This tray is made of four to five inch posts, and its size is governed by the quantity of milk of the tubs to be used; but these tubs generally hold from one hundred to one hundred and fifty cans. The milk is immediately set with the requisite quantity of rennet, usually one quarter of a can to one hundred cans of milk; and if it does not “come” in a quarter of an hour, more rennet is added.
When it has properly curdled, it is stirred in all directions with a wooden ladle three or four times over, and somewhat broken up, when it is allowed to stand three or four minutes at rest. It is then gently and constantly stirred again, with the ladle or the hands, and broken. By too active stirring one gets more whey than cheese, and very quick stirring must be avoided. The whey is then allowed to stand some time, by which the curdled cheese particles collect, and the whey appears on the surface, and can be taken off and poured into a tub made for the purpose. To the mass still remaining in the kettle, which is now almost all cheesy matter, as much hot water is added as is sufficient to warm it properly. The addition of hot water must be made with discretion, however, and must not exceed a certain amount, which can be learned only by practice. The more we add, the drier will the cheese become after a while; and, though it may keep the better, and be better for transportation, the taste is unquestionably injured by it. The cold-made cheese is far more liable to injury from keeping, but is much richer and more palatable, on which account the best is generally eaten fresh. The quantity of hot water to be added for warming the milk must therefore he determined somewhat by the disposition to be made of the cheese.
When the hot water has stood, say half an hour, on the curd, it is taken off and poured into the whey. The curd is now properly brought together by the hands or a ladle, and again thoroughly worked and broken. After standing at rest a short time, the water and whey are turned off again, as completely as possible, in the whey-tub. The mass of curd still remaining in the vat, now called wrongel, is cut up into small pieces, which are very carefully worked over, and then pressed into the wooden cheese-mould. In order to get a very fine separation of the curd, only a small quantity is taken at once from the vat, which is rubbed in the hands, and then pressed into the mould till it is quite full. The cheese-mould is in the form of a bowl, made of willow wood, with its lower part pierced with holes, so that the whey can run off when the pressure is applied. The cheese now formed is taken out carefully, rubbed with the hands, and still further worked in the cheese-tub, and again very firmly pressed into the mould with the hands.
To be able to press it into the mould with greater power, an implement called the presser is used. It consists of a short stick, with a kind of handle or cross-piece on the upper end. On the lower end a disc is fixed which fits into the cheese-mould. In using the instrument, the disc is placed on the cheese to be pressed into the mould, the handle or cross-piece is placed against the chest or shoulders, and the operator presses down at the same time with his hands, thrusting the disc as deeply as possible into the cheese-mould. When pressed enough on one side, it is turned round in the mould, bringing the other side up, and the pressure is again applied as strongly as possible. For saving the whey in cheese-pressing, the mould is set into a pan only a little larger than the mould itself, which catches the whey running out from the mould. When the cheese in the mould is properly pressed by hand, the cover is put upon the mould, which is loaded gradually, in order to bring down the greatest possible pressure. The weight or pressure is greater or less according to the size of the cheese; yet during the pressure the cheese must be frequently turned, that it may get the right form. The gradual increase of the pressure goes on for twenty-four hours, when the cheese is taken from the mould to be laid in a tub of salt-brine in the cellar; the cellar must be kept cool. The cheese remains in the brine twenty-four hours, but is turned once in that time. It is then taken out and put upon a table, the surface of which is inclined, the legs of one end being longer than those of the other. On both sides of the inclined table run grooves in the direction of the inclination of the surface, which unite at the lower end, and serve as a way of escape for the brine or pickle into a tub below. Here the cheese is rubbed with salt, and a handful of salt, is scattered over the top, when it is left standing for some time “in the salt.” If one side was rubbed in the morning, it is turned at evening; and the other side is served in the same manner as the first. A cheese of from fifteen to sixteen pounds remains standing thus four or five days, according to the temperature. If the heat is great, it must stand the longer in the salt. When sufficiently salted, it is washed off in hot water, and taken to the cheese-room, where it is daily turned on dry, clean shelves. If it is still greasy or dauby on the outside, it is still further washed in water, and dried off with a coarse linen towel.
The cheese-room is generally kept closed by day to keep out the light and sun, which are not good for cheese. It is opened in the morning and evening to let in a little cooling air; yet a strong breeze is avoided by opening all the doors and windows at the same time, for the cheese will crack and break open if exposed to it.
Sweet milk cheese is fit for use at the age of four weeks. Strongly salted cheese does not ripen up so quickly as that which is salted less; but, if it takes longer, the loss is less, and, on that account, it is preferred for sending off to less salted cheese, which, on the other hand, is richer, and has a little better taste. In the daily turning of the cheese, great care is taken to observe any little specks in it where the mites conceal themselves. As soon as such places are discovered, a hole is dug out with a knife as deep as they extend into the cheese. The holes are left open till the next day, when, if no more mites appear, they are stopped up with other cheese. But, if they still appear, some pounded pepper is put into the holes, which destroys them. Rotten or moist spots on the cheese are treated in the same way, but very deep holes have to be made into the cheese, and it is best to cover them with buckwheat-meal, when they dry up very quickly.
In very hot weather it sometimes happens that the cheese swells up and begins to ferment. Then it is laid on the cleanly-scoured pavement of the cheese-room, where it is cooler; or, as many do, pierced pretty deeply with holes with a knitting-needle, which often helps it. With the decrease of the great heat of the sun, the swelling also ceases. The cheese is not injured except in appearance, the taste being improved. But, if the swelling is very considerable, it makes the cheese hollow. If the milk and cheese dishes are not very cleanly washed and rinsed out, the cheese gets a wrinkled crust, and begins to ferment.
Sweet milk cheese, three or four months old, is turned and aired only once a week in dry weather. Many cheese-makers also sprinkle the cheeses daily, for a week or two after they are fourteen days old, with beer and vinegar, or with vinegar in which saffron has been extracted, by which it gets not only a beautiful yellow color, but is also protected from flies.
The Use of the Whey of Sweet Milk Cheese.
—On what remains of the milk devoted to the making of sweet milk cheese in the manner above described, or the whey which runs off in the pressing of the cheese, there forms, after it has stood a few days, a fine creamy skin, which is carefully taken off with a wooden spoon, put in a clean jar, and stirred from time to time. This cream is collected to make butter, and it can be done once a week. This butter-whey is healthful and good, to be sure; but, on the whole, is not so fine and delicate flavored as good cream butter, and on this account is cheaper.
The butter-milk which comes from the churning of the cream of whey is a good food for swine. They greatly relish it.
Whey is also sold as a beverage, and is called “sweet whey.” When fresh and untainted, it is quite an agreeable drink, very cooling, and good for the health in spring, purifying the blood, though somewhat purgative in its effect on the kidneys. Later in summer, when the heat is very great, whey is thought to be rather injurious to the health than otherwise. It is then used exclusively for swine.
May Cheese.
—In the early part of summer, when the grass is best, sweet milk cheese is made in precisely the same way as that described, yet of smaller size and less weight. This is called May cheese, and is designed for immediate use or sale when ripe, as it will not keep, and easily loses its fine flavor.
Jews’ Cheese.
—Another kind of sweet milk cheese is the Jews’ cheese. It differs from common sweet milk cheese in its form, which is flatter and thinner, and partly in being less salted, and of a much looser texture. It is but little made; but some dairies are devoted to it.
Council’s Cheese.
—This is made as the common sweet milk cheese, only in much smaller moulds. It has also a peculiar color. It is allowed to get rather old before it is relished, and is then mostly given away.
New Milk’s Cheese.
—This is made in winter, when the cows are in the stall. It is not so good as grass cheese, which is made in summer, when the cows are at pasture, and is less relished, and brings a lower price. When the cows are brought to the barn late in the fall, it can be made of very good quality for a few days; but the longer the cow remains in the stall the more the milk loses its good quality for cheese, on which account but few of the larger dairies make cheese at all in winter.
To make it appear to buyers more like grass-made cheese, and to be able to sell it, it is colored with the same material, and it is then often very difficult to distinguish it, since great pains is taken to give the two kinds the same form, hardness of rind, etc. The dairymen have less to do with this deception than the dealers. Hay cheese is rather better in quality for coloring, since it gains in appearance and taste; but it never can equal grass-made cheese in fine qualities.
Cheese-making in North Holland.
—In the province of North Holland sweet milk cheese is made almost exclusively. From ancient times this particular branch of farming has been carried to great extent; but it has especially grown in importance since the province gained a firm soil by artificial draining. At the present time North Holland is the head-quarters of the cheese-trade; and it is easily explained in the fact that no other province has more or better cattle. The manufacture of cheese is almost the only object of keeping cattle, and the North Dutch dairy farmer applies himself with the greatest possible zeal to the most careful modes of cheese-making, in order to keep up the ancient reputation of his cheeses, both in the domestic and foreign markets, and to secure to himself all of the advantages springing from it.
The quantity of cheese which is weekly sold in the markets of Alkmaar, Hoorn, Edam, Purmerend, Medenblik, Enkhuizen, etc., is enormous. We cite Alkmaar alone as an example, where on the city scales there were weighed no less than 23,859,258 Netherlandish pounds (536,834,830 pounds, American), from 1758 to 1830. Since that time the manufacture has increased, so that from three to four million Netherland pounds are annually brought to the Alkmaar market. But, besides this, a large quantity of cheese does not come into the market, but is sold at the dairy without passing through the hands of the traders, and never comes to the city scales.
In 1843 there were sold in the North Dutch cheese-markets 22,385,812 pounds, to say nothing of the large quantity sold directly from the dairy. It is easy to see, therefore, how important and extensive an interest the manufacture of cheese has become for this province. Of the twenty-two million pounds annually exported, the value may be estimated as at least three million Dutch guilders. The price and value of the cheese vary, of course, with the markets.
The North Dutch cheese differs somewhat in quality and money value, according to the section where it is made; but in general that made in the region about Hoorn is considered the best, as is very natural, since in that vicinity are to be found the finest meadows and pastures in the province. The villages of Oosterblokker, Westerwoude, Hoogecarspel, and Twisk, are distinguished above all others; and so are the pastures of Beemster, Purmer, and Schermer, almost equally so.
The Dutch cheese-maker reckons twelve Netherland cans of milk to a pound—two and a quarter pounds American—of cheese, according to which a cow in three hundred days would give from eighteen hundred to two thousand cans of milk, or usually from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five Netherland pounds of cheese, in a year.
The Utensils used in Cheese-making in North Holland
are nearly the same as those already described for saving the milk for butter, and those used in the various processes of cheese-making in South Holland. They are modified to some extent, to be sure, by the taste, the pride, the wealth, or the caprice, of each dairyman. Many a them are painted, wholly or in part, in oil colors, for the sake of durability as well as cleanliness, on which the North Dutch dairyman lays great stress. They do not require much capital.
Variety of North Dutch Cheeses, and the Trade in them
.—The North Dutch cheese is called sweet milk cheese, and also, pretty commonly, white cheese, where it is made; but in Germany it is called Edamer, less because the best is made in the vicinity of this city than because the largest trade in it is carried on there.
All sweet milk cheese has not the same weight, form, and size. Many kinds of it come into the market under different names; as, for example, large cheese of 20 to 24 pounds (45 to 54 pounds), Malbollen of 16 pounds (36 pounds), medium of 10 to 12 pounds (22 to 27 pounds), Commission’s of 6 or 7 pounds (14 to 16 pounds), and little ones of 4 pounds (9 pounds), to which belong the Jews’ cheese. Besides this, the making of English cheese is carried on. Malbollen is but little made. It is of about twenty pounds weight. Fifty years ago large quantities of it came into market, and were sold mostly in North Brabant and the Rhine provinces. Of the medium cheese the manufacture is pretty extensive at the present time, and it is sold to go to North Brabant chiefly. The price of these sorts is more frequently fluctuating than that of the smaller ones; but less so than that of Commission’s cheese, which is not much made. These varieties in former years were very profitable, since they were made with little labor, being light and spongy from slight pressing and little salting, and were sold green.
Dairy industry is now chiefly devoted to making the varieties most known and sought for in Germany, the Edam small sweet milk cheeses, which are sent in enormous quantities to all parts of the world. There are two varieties of Edam cheese in the market, one with a white, the other with a red rind. The latter is firm, more of a yellowish color inside, and colored outside. The coloring matter is prepared in France for this special purpose. By this treatment the cheese is better adapted to transportation. The early red rind cheese is the finest and best. It is made in spring from milk fresh and warm from cows just turned to pasture, and is exported mostly to Italy, Spain, and America. That made later in summer is not so good, and goes to France; the red rind, made still later in the fall, goes to England and Brabant. Cheese that is injured, or does not keep well, is sold mostly in Hamburg and Brabant.
Making of Edam Cheese.
—The Edam is a rich sweet milk cheese, that is made from fresh, unskimmed milk. The milk, while still warm from the cow, is poured into a large tub or a kettle through the strainer. In cold weather, when it has cooled off in standing in the air, it is warmed to a proper degree by adding milk heated by the fire. The rennet is then added. This is prepared in the following manner: The maw of the nursing-calf, cut, into long strips, is soaked for twenty-four hours in sweet whey, when it is made lukewarm over a slow fire, whey and all, and three times the quantity of cheese-brine, or solution of the salt of the cheese, added. The mass is then allowed to stand four days, when it is fit for use. An exact determination of the quantity of rennet to be used cannot well be given, since the quantity depends on the quality; but usually about two hundred cans of milk to one fifth of a can of rennet is the proportion, taking more or less, according to the strength of the rennet.
The milk in the tub to which the rennet has been added is covered over and allowed to stand till it is curdled, or become hard, which usually requires a quarter of an hour. The curdled milk is then called “glib.” It is now slowly but regularly stirred, with a shallow, long-handled cheese-spoon, in all directions.
Some cheese-makers treat the milk in the following manner: They stir the milk, thrusting an inverted cheese-ladle into the curdling mass every two or three minutes after adding the rennet, by which the curdling is much hastened. Now they move the ladle or cheese-stick three or four times with considerable force through the thickening milk, and lay it, inverted, on the surface of the milk, covering the vat for ten or twelve minutes, when the mass is again set in motion, and then again allowed to stand. By this means the cheese particles settle to the bottom, and the whey rises to the top.
When, after these alternate stirrings and rest of the curdling milk, the solid particles have settled, and the whey is collected on top, the latter is turned off, as carefully as possible, into the whey-tub. In order the better to settle the cheesy parts, and to cause the whey to come up, the cheese-stick is loaded with weights or stones, by which the whey is separated in the pressure upon the curd. Some minutes after, the whey is again turned off, the whole mass is properly stirred, and the curd is collected with the cheese-stick and worked with the hands, and the whey is again carefully turned off. The curd, now become thick, is taken out of the vat, piece by piece, and broken with the hands as finely as possible, in order to fill as much into the cheese-moulds as will just make a cheese. The moulds are set into the cheese-vat, and the curd is worked and pressed closely in with the hand, to remove the whey as much as possible. The cheese is then taken out of the mould, and again very finely crumbled in the vat, and, after the whey is again turned off through the strainer, is pressed the second time into the mould, so that it is as full of cheese as it can possibly be. It is then turned in the mould so that the upper side goes down, when it is again firmly pressed in. The turning is repeated several times.
In the making of large and medium cheeses the presser is used, while space left empty by the pressure is again filled with curd, so that the mould is always full, and the cheese gets its requisite size. In the smaller or four-pound cheeses, the hands alone are used for this pressing into the mould. The mould, now pressed full, is put into a tub, properly washed in whey, and cleansed of all remaining fat. By the washing and smoothing the cheese must get a glossy and smooth rind. After this is done, the cheese is again taken out of the mould, wrapped in a clean linen cloth, put in again, and covered over and brought under the press, that it may become harder and firmer, and that the whey may run off.
In hot weather the cheese is left under the press five hours, from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon; but, if it is cool, it must stand longer. There are several different objects in view in deciding the continuance of the pressure. Many think two or three hours sufficient, whilst others press five hours. Cheese designed for export is pressed longer, or twelve hours.
It takes from three to four hours, usually, from the pouring in of the milk to the bringing of the cheese under the press; but it can be done in two or two and a half hours without injuring the cheese.
After the first pressing is finished, the cheese is put into another mould, rounder than the first, and with only one hole in the bottom, to lie in the salt. In many places a long trough is used, in which several such moulds are placed to be salted at the same time; and for this either dry salt or pickle (brine, or salt in solution) is used. The pickle is most commonly used, and is thought best. When one side of the cheese has laid some hours in the brine, it is turned, and the other side is also salted. After a while it is salted or turned in the brine but once a day. Small four-pound cheeses remain nine days in hot weather, and in cold ten or twelve days, in the salt; medium ones of ten to twelve pounds must lie at least three weeks. In very hot weather they are often salted twice a day. The moulds with the salted cheese are placed, several together, into the cheese-vat where the brine is, or on a salting-tray where the brine is collected in a tub beneath. After being finally salted, they are washed perfectly clean with water or warm whey. Many put their cheeses from the brine immediately in a kettle of hot whey for some minutes, and wash them in it. All unevenness or roughness got in pressing in the mould is now scraped off with a knife.
After the washing, the cheeses are again perfectly dried, and laid on the shelves in the cheese-room, where they are daily turned, and remain from two to four, and even five weeks. The cheese is now salable; but before it is packed or delivered it is laid for some hours to soak in pure, cold spring or well water, the smallest for three hours, the medium four, and the largest five hours. The cheese is then well cleaned with the cheese-brush, laid on the shelf in the store-room, and turned a week or more, daily. But, in order to give them a fine yellow color, in damp weather, especially, the poorer ones are, by many dairymen, laid a good ways apart, and sprinkled or washed daily with new beer. When the cheese is to be sold, it is properly washed still again in hot whey, and rubbed with a woolen cloth a day before sending to market, with hot or cold linseed-oil, by which the outside of the cheese gets a fine glow; but it must be rubbed till no fat or oil is to be felt.
The Red Color of Edam Cheese.
—After the dairyman has sold his cheese to the merchant, it is colored by him quite red. It will not be uninteresting to many readers to know some of the details of this peculiar color.
Edam cheese is colored with what is called tournesol, which is extracted from a plant (Croton tinctorium). This is an annual, which grows wild in France, in great abundance, in the vicinity of Montpelier, in Languedoc; and around Aix, in Provence, large commons are sown with it. The seed is sown in March and April. From a white and straight tap root, it sends up a stalk something like six inches high, which divides into many branches. The leaves have very long stems, of a pale green color. The flower-stalks spring up from between the branches, and bear flowers in fan-shaped clusters. The vegetation of the plant continues four months.
The preparation of the tournesol is as follows: The plants are collected late in summer, the roots thrown away, and the other parts taken to a mill, where they are ground, and the juice pressed out. Into this juice the rags of old hempen cloth are dipped till they are soaked full, when they are hung up to dry in the sun. When they are dry they are laid on a tray over a tub filled with urine, in which carbonate of lime has been dissolved, so that the edges hang over the rim of the tub on which they rest. The vapor from the solution of lime must penetrate the rags, and this gives them a violet color, when they are taken off and dried again, to be replaced till they are fully colored.
The tournesol rags have become an article of commerce, for which France receives annually from Holland from 100,000 to 200,000 guilders (from $38,000 to $76,000).
To give the Edam cheeses the red rind, they are rubbed with these tournesol rags, from which they got the dark violet color; and after they are dried they are again rubbed, which gives them a glowing red.
It is an excellent peculiarity of the tournesol rags that they not only impart the color to Edam cheese, to which people abroad are so accustomed, but that they keep the insects from the cheese, whilst the coloring matter does not penetrate inside, but remains on the rind. Substitutes for it have been repeatedly sought, but not found; nor have the attempts made to grow the plant in Holland proved successful.
Use of the Whey of the North Dutch Sweet Milk Cheese
.—The whey obtained in making cheese in North Holland is collected in large tubs. The sweet, agreeable taste of the whey is soon lost when it is set to obtain the fatty particles still remaining in it. The cream which forms on it is daily taken off with a skimmer, put into a cream-pot, and when it is collected in sufficient quantity it is made into whey butter.
CHAPTER XII.
LETTER TO A DAIRY-WOMAN.
In the earlier chapters of this work I have spoken to farmers and dairymen of the selection, care, and management, of dairy stock. The seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters relate more especially to your department, and on your application and skill will depend chiefly the successful result of the dairy establishment. Of what avail are costly barns, well-selected cows, and judicious feeding, in the butter and cheese dairy, if the products are to be depreciated in value by the imperfect modes of preparing them for the market, where the final judgment is passed upon them, and where it is expected the price will be according to their value?
You have, doubtless, had a much greater practical knowledge and experience of the details of dairy management than I have. For this practice and experience I have the utmost respect; but I have not spoken without a knowledge of the subject. I have made many a cheese, and many a pound of butter, while my observations have extended over all the most important dairy districts of the country, and have not been limited to the practices of any one section, which, however good in themselves, may not be the best. I trust, therefore, you will excuse me for calling your attention to the more important points to which I have alluded; and, if my conclusions happen to differ from your own, in any respect, that you will not discard them as worthless, without first bringing them to the test of careful experiment, when I trust they will be found correct.
I have not written to establish any favorite theory, but simply to inculcate truth, and to aid in developing a most important branch of American industry, which, either directly or indirectly, involves the investment of a vast amount of capital, the aggregate profits of which depend so largely on your judgment and skill.
I need not remind you that any addition, however small, to the market value of each pound of butter or cheese, will largely increase the annual income of your establishment. Nor need I remind you that these articles are generally the last of either the luxuries or the necessaries of life in which city customers are willing to economize. They must and will have a good article, and are ready to pay for it in proportion to its goodness; or, if they desire to economize in butter, it will be in the quantity rather than the quality.
Poor butter is a drug in the market. Nobody wants it, and the dealer often finds it difficult to get it off his hands, when a delicate and finely-flavored article attracts attention and secures a ready sale. Some say that poor butter will do for cooking. But a good steak or mutton-chop is too expensive to allow any one to spoil it by the use of a poor quality of butter; and good pastry-cooks will tell you that cakes and pies cannot be made without good sweet butter, and plenty of it. These dishes relish too well, when properly cooked with nice butter, for any one to tolerate the use of poor butter in them.
On page 220 and elsewhere, I have dwelt on the necessity of extreme cleanliness in all the operations of the dairy; and this is the basis and fundamental principle of your business. I would not suppose, for a moment, that you are lacking in this respect. The enormous quantities of disgusting, streaky, and tallow-like butter that are daily thrust upon the seaboard markets must be due to the carelessness and negligence of heedless men, to exposure to sun and rain, to bad packing, and to delays in transportation. Many of these evils you may not be able to remove, since you cannot follow the article to the market, and see that it arrives safely and untainted. But you can take greater pains, perhaps, in some of the preliminary processes of making, and produce an article that will not be so liable to injure from keeping and transportation; and then, if fault is to be found, it does not rest with you.
I will not suggest the possibility that your ideas of cleanliness and neatness may be at fault; and that what may seem an excess of nicety and scrubbing to you may appear to be almost slovenliness to some others, whose butter receives the highest price in the market, and always finds the readiest sale. Permit me, however, to refer you to pages 300, 324, and 325, where a detailed account is given of the washings in water and washings in alkali; of the scrubbings, and the scourings, and the scaldings, and the rinsings, which the neat and tidy Dutch dairy-women give all the utensils of the dairy, from the pails to the firkins and the casks, and also to their extreme carefulness that no infectious odor rises from the surroundings. I think you will see that it is a physical impossibility that any taint can affect the atmosphere or the utensils of such a dairy, and that many of the details of their practice may be worthy of imitation in our American dairies.
And here allow me to suggest that, though we may not approve of the general management in any particular section, or any particular dairy, it is rare that there is not something in the practice of that section that is really valuable and worthy of imitation.
On pages 231 and 234 I have called your attention to the use of the sponge and clean cloth for absorbing and removing the butter-milk in the most thorough manner; this I regard as of great importance.
I have stated on page 234 that, under ordinarily favorable circumstances, from twelve to eighteen hours will be sufficient to raise the cream; and that I do not believe it should stand over twenty-four hours under any circumstances. This, I am aware, is very different from the general practice over the country. But, if you will make the experiment in the most careful manner, setting the pans in a good, airy place, and not upon the cellar bottom, I think you will soon agree with me that all you get, after twelve or eighteen hours, under the best circumstances, or at most after twenty-four hours, will detract from the quality and injure the fine and delicate aroma and agreeable taste of the butter to a greater extent than you are aware of. The cream which rises from milk set on the cellar bottom acquires an acrid taste, and can neither produce butter of so fine a quality or so agreeable to the palate as that which rises from milk set on shelves from six to eight feet high, around which there is a full and free circulation of pure air. The latter is sweeter, and appears in much larger quantities in the same time than the former.
If, therefore, you devote your attention to the making of butter to sell fresh in the market, and desire to obtain a reputation which shall aid and secure the quickest sale and the highest price, you will use cream that rises first, and that does not stand too long on the milk. You will churn it properly and patiently, and not with too great haste. You will work it so thoroughly and completely with the butter-worker, and the sponge and cloth, as to remove every particle of butter-milk, never allowing your own or any other hands to touch it. You will keep it at a proper temperature when making, and after it is made, by the judicious use of ice, and avoid exposing it to the bad odors of a musty cellar. You will discard the use of artificial coloring or flavoring matter, and take the utmost care in every process of making. You will stamp your butter tastefully with some mould which can be recognized in the market as yours; as, for instance, your initials, or some form or figure which will most please the eye and the taste of the customer. You will send it in boxes so perfectly prepared and cleansed as to impart no taste of wood to the butter. If all these things receive due attention, my word for it, the initials or form which you adopt will be inquired after, and you will always find a ready and a willing purchaser at the highest market price.
But, if you are differently situated, and it becomes necessary to pack and sell as firkin-butter, let me suggest the necessity of an equal degree of nicety and care in preparation, and that you insist, as one of your rights, that the article be packed in the best of oak-wood firkins, thoroughly prepared after the manner of the Dutch, as stated on page 325. A greater attention to these points would make the butter thus packed worth several cents a pound more when it arrives in the market than it ordinarily is. Indeed, the manner in which it not infrequently comes to market is a disgrace to those who packed it; and it cannot be that such specimens were ever put up by the hands of a dairy-woman. I have often seen what was bought for butter open so marbled, streaked, and rancid, that it was scarcely fit to use on the wheels of a carriage.
If you adopt the course which I have recommended in regard to skimming, you will have a large quantity of sweet skimmed milk, far better than it would be if allowed to stand thirty-six or forty-eight hours, as is the custom with many. This is too valuable to waste, and it is my opinion that you can use it to far greater profit than to allow it to be fed to swine. There can be no question, I think, that cheese-making should be carried on at the same time with the making of butter, in small and medium-sized dairies. You have seen, in Chapter XI., that some of the best cheese of Holland is made of sweet skim-milk. The reputation of Parmesan—a skim-milk cheese of Italy, page 266—is world-wide, and it commands a high price and ready sale. The mode of making these varieties has been described in detail in the ninth and eleventh chapters; and you can imitate them, or, perhaps, improve upon them, and thus turn the skim-milk to a very profitable account, if it is sweet and good. You will find, if you adopt this system, that your butter will be improved, and that, without any great amount of extra labor, you will make a large quantity of very good cheese, and thus add largely to the profit of your establishment, and to the comfort and prosperity of your family.
But, if you devote all your attention to the making of cheese, whether it is to be sold green, or as soon as ripe, or packed for exportation, I need not say that the same neatness is required as in the making of butter. You will find many suggestions in the preceding pages on the mode of preparation and packing, which I trust will prove to be valuable and applicable to your circumstances. There is a general complaint among the dealers in cheese that it is difficult to get a superior article. This state of things ought not to exist. I hope the time is not far distant when a more general attention will be paid to the details of manufacture, and let me remind you that those who take the first steps in improvement will reap the greatest advantages.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE PIGGERY AS A PART OF THE DAIRY ESTABLISHMENT.
The keeping of swine is incidental to the well-managed dairy, and both the farmer and the dairyman unite it, to some extent, with other branches of farming.
In the regular operations of the dairy, however economically conducted, there will always be more or less refuse in the shape of whey, butter-milk, or skim-milk, which may be consumed with profit by swine, and which might otherwise be lost. Dairy-fed pork is distinguished for its fineness and delicacy; and the dairy refuse, in connection with grains, potatoes, and scraps, is highly nutritious and fattening.
There is a wide difference between the profit to be derived from the different breeds. Some are far more thrifty than others, and arrive at maturity earlier. But the choice of a breed will depend, to considerable extent, on the locality and the object in view, whether it be to breed for sale as stock, or for pork or bacon.
To get desirable crosses, some breeds must be kept pure, especially in the hands of stock breeders, or those who raise to sell as pure-bred, even though as pure breeds they may not be most profitable to the practical farmer and dairyman. Those who confine themselves to the pure breeds, therefore, do good service to the community of farmers and dairymen, who can avail themselves of the results of their experience and skill.
I think it will generally be conceded that the size of the male is of less importance than his form, his tendency to lay on large amounts of fat in proportion to the food he eats, or his early maturity. Smallness of bone and compactness of form indicate early maturity; and this is an essential element in the calculations of the dairy farmer, who generally raises for pork rather than for bacon, and whose profit will consist in fattening and turning early, or, at most, as young as from twelve to fifteen months. A fine and delicate quality of pork is at the present time highly prized in the markets, and commands the highest price. For bacon, a much larger hog is preferred; but there can be little doubt that the cross of the pure Suffolk or Berkshire boar and the large, heavy and coarse sow, not uncommon in the Western States, would produce an offspring far superior to the class of hogs usually denominated “subsoilers,” with their long and pointed snouts, and their thin, flabby sides. The principles of breeding, as stated on pp. 70 and 71, and elsewhere in the preceding pages, are equally applicable here, and are abundantly suggestive on many other points. This is the important point, the selection of the proper breed and the proper cross: for there is scarcely any class of stock which varies so much in its net returns as this; and there is none which, if properly selected and judiciously managed, returns the investment so quickly.
Those who feed for the early market, and desire to realize the largest profits with the least outlay of time and money, will resort to the Suffolk, the Berkshire, or the Essex, to obtain crosses with sows of the larger breeds, and will breed up more or less closely to these breeds, according to the special object they have in view. The Suffolks are nearly allied to the Chinese, and possess much the same characteristics. Though generally regarded as too small for profit except to those who breed for stock, their extraordinary fattening qualities and their early maturity adapt them eminently for crossing with the larger breeds. The form of the well-built Suffolk, when not too closely inbred, is a model of compactness, and lightness of bone and offal. Though often too short in the body, a large-boned female will generally correct this fault, and produce an offspring suited to the wants of the dairy farmer.
The Berkshire is also mixed in with the Chinese, and owes no small part of its valuable characteristics to that race. The Berkshires, as a breed, often attain considerable size and weight.
The improved Essex are the favorites of some, and for early maturity they are difficult to surpass. Some think they require greater care and better feeding than the Berkshire.
What is wanted is to unite, so far as possible, the early maturity and the facility to take on fat of the Suffolk, the Chinese, or the Essex, with a tendency at the same time to make flesh as well as fat; or, in other words, to attain a good growth and size, and to fatten easily when the time comes to put them down. The Chinese or the Suffolk are but ill adapted for hams and bacon; but, crossed upon the kind of hog already described, the produce will be likely to be valuable.
The most judicious practical farmers are new fully satisfied, I think, that the tendency, for the last ten years, in the Eastern States more especially, has been to breed too fine; and that the result of this error has been to cover our swine with fat at a very early age, and before they have attained a respectable size. In other words, the flesh and bone have been too far sacrificed to fat. A reäction has already taken place in the opinions on this point, and perhaps some caution may be necessary, that it does not load too far in the opposite direction.
Some practical dairymen think that with a dairy of twenty or thirty cows they can keep from forty to fifty swine, by turning into the orchard or the pasture, in early spring, and as pigs, where they will easily procure a large part of their food, till the close of fall, when they are taken in and fed up gradually at first, but afterward more highly, and fattened as rapidly and turned as soon as possible.
Others say there is no profit in working hogs, and that they should be kept confined and constantly and rapidly growing up to the time of turning them for pork, growing steadily, but not laying on too much fat till fed up to it.
I am inclined to think the farmers of the Eastern States confine their swine too closely; and that, while still kept as store-pigs, a somewhat greater range in the orchard, or the pasture, would prove to be good economy, particularly up to the age of eight or nine months.
The judicious dairyman will study the taste and demands of the market where his pork is to be sold. If he supplies a city customer, he knows he must raise a fine and delicate quality of pork; and to do this he must select stock that will early arrive at maturity, and that will bear forcing ahead and selling young. If he supplies a market where large amounts of pork are salted and packed for shipping, or for bacon, a larger and coarser hog, fed to greater age and weight, will turn to better advantage, though I think a strain of finer blood will even then be profitable to the feeder. In either case, the refuse of the dairy is of considerable value, and should be saved with scrupulous care, and judiciously fed. “Many a little makes a mickle.”