Four page paper about how to produce fancy cheese.
4
Tuesday, January 6, 1903 – Afternoon Session.The session was called to order at 1:30 by the President Aitken. – The first subject for discussion this afternoon is “ Fancy Cheese of Tod-ay and how to Produce It.” We are going to hear from an expert on that subject; I hope that after he has finished his remarks you will discuss the matter, and try and find out all he knows about it before we let him go. I have great pleasure in introducing Honorable H. E. Cook, of Denmark, N.Y.
FANCY CHEESE OF TO-DAY AND HOW TO PRODUCE IT. Paper by Hon. H. E. Cook.
Mr. Cook said. – Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Vermont Dairymen’s Association: As I looked at the title of my subject on the program I thought there might be a misunderstanding as to what I referred to by the use of the word “fancy;” I did not mean the Neufchatel, or Roquefort, or any of that class of fancy cheese, but a fancy or first-class dairy cheese. I want to say to you in the outset that my father was born in Vermont, and I am very proud of Vermont, and of its influence in the history of our country.
Cheese making has come to be a work of art of which there must be a scientific understanding. From a crude system of manufacture and a product that varied widely in texture and flavor, to one that is uniform, not only in e ach factory, but over wide sections such uniformity prevails that car loads are purchased and frequently branded by the dealer with a common chased and frequently branded by the dealer with a common brand, and so far as quality is concerned, no one would question his right to do so.
We made a very serious mistake some years ago in trying to foist upon the British market an article that was partly “skim” and partly a filled cheese. We had a very good trade with Great Britain, but the makers began sending a cheese with a good part of the cream skimmed off the milk. At first John Bull didn’t mind it, he tasted the cheese and said “ that’s all right.” Then the quality was farther reduced by taking a larger quantity of cream from the milk, and after a while John Bull said, “ We don’t want any more of that cheese.” We lost largely in our sale by such “cussedness.” I don’t know whether you use that word here – it goes in New York. President Aitken. – That’s all right. Mr. Cook (continuing.) – The result was that Canada came in and made a good cheese and got hold of the British consumer. Our export trade in 1880 and 1881 was from 140 to 150 million pounds annually; it fell to from thirty to forty million pounds in 1895-6. During this period of re-adjustment prices were at times very low.
The passage of the “Filled Cheese” law has aided much together with low prices, to stimulate American consumption until to-day consumption has overtaken production. A large business has been developed with the South which is bound to grow, because they have only recently found the value of a full cream cheese. It is now simply a question of “quality” to maintain a profitable branch of American dairying; it is however at present comparatively small – only $26,000,000 out of a total dairy output of $600,000,000 – one twenty-third of the total. A good cheaper than meats should have a far greater demand, not only among our city cousins but among farmers and producers. Milk at the usual wholesale price of two to two and a fourth cents a quart, an average for the year, is equal in actual digestible food nutriments to beef at two and a half cents a pound – and I guess you haven’t bought much beef at that price lately – that is two and a half cents, computing the carcass as a whole. These figures would not apply to the extremely fancy steer beef of which there is a comparatively small amount. The manufacture of so – called fancy cheese has come to have a place in dairy production, and now amounts to six million of dollars annually As these cheese are finding favor with American consumers, they are coming to be quite generally manufactured. Anything that will encourage the consumption of milk products should be encouraged.
The first proposition confronting us in Cheddar cheese manufacture is the character and quality of the milk. This appeals particularly to the cheese trade because substantially all of the cheese is now manufactured in factories. The amount made upon farms from private dairies is infinitesimal and not worth mentioning. The condition of the milk when it is received at the factory is therefore of prime importance and its care on the part of the farmer an object of first consideration. We cannot like the butter makers, apply the safety valve of pasteurization; no alternative is therefore at hand but to follow out a few simple rules of sanitation. First, a strict regard for clean utensils into which milk is at any time placed, should be rinsed, washed and steamed, or scalded to ensure perfect sterilization. Every seam and opening should be soldered smooth. Rusty cans are especially to be avoided. As an evidence of the value of sanitation may be cited milk without preservatives having been hipped across the ocean and back again, and then used for consumption. We have no as a body of farmers come to recognize the first principles of sanitation. A much mooted question to-day is the actual amount of aeration necessary. I know of no experiments at hand that carefully prove that any is required beyond the stirring it would get while the cans stayed in cold water, reducing the temperature to sixty degrees. It has been claimed for many years that texture and flavor were both largely influenced by air contact. While I do not care to go on record as saying that aeration is unnecessary, my personal opinion is that the marked effect is due to the cooling of the milk rather than the air contact. If foods are fed either in the stable, or obtained in the pasture that produce flavors that are volatile, then we may expect to obtain good results from aeration. I wish to most emphatically protest against aeration near barns where air currents will form through the stable, or over manure heaps, or perhaps worse than anything else, near places where manure has been hauled away, leaving a bowl like surface that holds water after each shower, keeping alive germ life, slowly drying and passing into the air and thus into the milk, for several days. Experiments conducted at the Geneva, N.Y. Experiment Station, when milk was aerated in their cow stable, which is kept scrupulously clean, had such a large germ contents that the quality of the product was affected. These same sanitary precautions must be observed at the factory. At least twice a week all tools should go into the vat, be covered with cheese bandage, and be sterilized with dry steam for not less than fifteen minutes. This will not only kill every form of common germ life, but also the red spot germ that has been a most serious problem to many cheese makers.
I am not quoting the experience of others, but out own, where the initial work was done in securing a rimed for this trouble. And I want to say to you that I am a practical cheese-maker, and I have been engaged in the business for over twelve years past.
I spoke about the aeration near the barn, where the odors of the barn were likely to come in contact with the milk I want to relate a little instance where we were having trouble in one of our factories with a certain dairy. I took the cheese-maker and went to the farm; everything seemed clean and neat, the floors were clean and it was large open barn. I hinted at the possibility of something being wrong. He says, “ I guess my stable is just as clean as your Mr. Cook,” I went inside and took a crowbar and loosened up a plank in the stable floor; then I asked the farmer if he would get down and just put his nose to catch the odor that came up rom that loosened plant, or below it. It was at once made plain enough what the trouble was. The cans of milk setting at the end of the barn, the doors open, and the west wind blowing through the barn carried that foul odor over the can of milk and the trouble came, of course. He drew his milk away rom the barn, and the trouble ceased. So I say care should be taken in this respect and in keeping everything scrupulously clean. And in this connection let me say that the whey can in many factories is a source of daily loss. A by-product having a feeding value of .07 to .10 per 100lbs. is depreciated fully one-half by acid and other damaging ferments. And it also gives trouble to the maker the following day through the whey coming in cognate with the milk can which caries the fresh sweet milk to the factory. Keep the whey tank clean by daily washing and scalding, and thereby save a valuable product, and much trouble for the maker.
The method of manufacture to-day is essentially the same in every cheese section where high scoring goods are manufactured. The rennet test has come to be generally used. The principle involved ns that lactic acid produces a more rapid coagulation, and more rapid expulsion of moisture. Now upon the combined effect of rennet and lactic acid according to the best and latest information may be traced the curing, breaking down or peptonizing of the protein compounds. This same research has determined that without lactic acid cheese curing will never take place. Under the old sweet curd system, that moisture was left in the curd to ake possible lactic acid development after the cheese were pressed and put upon the shelf. The Marshall test may be called a good representative. After finding to just what point the milk should be ripened then we may proceed, day after day, to get the same lactic development, which means with watchfulness, a uniform product. I do not believe it possible to make uniform goods without knowing in some way that the milk is ripened to the same point each day. It is not alone that we need this lactic acid in curing, but we need to have a milk condition that means each day essentially the same shrinkage of the curd current after cutting. The rennet should be of such quantity, using only the pure extracts or powders diluted in cold water, that coagulation ready for the knife will follow in about thirty minutes. Careful cutting with the horizontal and perpendicular knives should follow to such fineness that no excess of moisture will remain. Good Cheese always carries all the moisture that the fat and casein can assimilate dependent upon texture.
Stir gently with agitation, for ten minutes, until the particles of curd are sufficiently sealed over to prevent the loss of solids, when higher temperatures are given and more strenuous agitation required. This thin cuticle covering the curd will not prevent water from passing out.
Here are some tags you might need in the middle of paragraphs:
Use the del tag for cancelled, but legible text, ex: someone has
crossed out a word but you can still read it. Attribute type is optional, value will
always be "cancelled."