How To Make Curds And Whey

Into a tumbler of new milk put half a tea-spoonful of dissolved citric acid (or squeeze a lemon in). The milk will curdle directly, and the whey will be clear and acid.

We must not, in treating of milk, omit to mention the recent preparation of Swiss milk, which has taken so good a place in the nourishment of infants brought up by hand. It is a valuable preparation, and if kept in the house will often be found of the greatest service for some pressing and sudden need ; mixed with water it is equal to and better than any bought milk. The Dairymaid brand is the best. It can be bought at from 8 1/2d. to 1s. per tin. Babes who cannot be reared on bought cow's milk, will thrive on Swiss milk.

A simple preventive of milk " turning" in summer is, to put fifteen grains of bicarbonate of soda to each quart of milk. It does not affect the taste.

Cheese

Cheese contains in 100 parts - Cheddar.

Water .... 36

Curd..... 29

Fat..... 30 1/2

Ash..... 4 1/2 Skimmed Cheese.

Water .... 44

Curd..... 45

Fat..... 6

Ash..... 5

In making cheese the milk is first curdled with rennet. The curd is then separated from the whey; in which the milk of sugar remains in a liquid form. The curd is carefully pressed and dried. It will be seen that both the rich and poor cheeses are without sugar or starch. To supply this lack bi'ead is eaten with them, bread being the vegetable food containing it. Skim-milk cheese would require butter to be eaten with it also, in order that the due proportion of nourishment might be obtained from it. When the curd has been obtained by rennet, it is salted to keep it from putrefaction, and sometimes coloured with annatto or carrot. It is then pressed into a cheese. The cheese is kept in a dry place to ripen, as it is called. This process is a kind of fermentation by which certain acids are produced.

The richness of cheese depends on the quantity of cream left in the milk used for it. Skim-milk forms the poor and salt cheeses (as Dutch cheese, etc.). They contain casein and little else, but are nourishing.

Stilton cheese is made of milk with cream added to it.

Cream cheese is made from cream alone. It is eaten fresh.

The chief makes of cheese are - Stilton, which is very expensive, from 1s. 2d. to Is. 6d. per pound; Cheddar next in price; Cheshire, Wiltshire, Derbyshire, Gloucester, and Irish, Scotch, Dutch, and American. We may add, as luxuries, Parmesan, Neufchatel, and Gruyere cheeses. American and Dutch cheeses are extremely cheap - 7d. or 8d. per pound; Gloucester is about the medium of expense.

Cheese is chosen by taste: the strong and pungent ones are the most economical, as less is eaten at a time; the mild and creamy consume rapidly. In large households it is advisable to lay in cheese in the autumn; but in small families and towns it is best to buy it as required. One person cannot consume more than half a pound of cheese in a week, with meat. If a larger piece of cheese happens to be sent or bought than can be eaten at once, the piece to be kept must have a buttered paper tied over the cut side, and then be tied up in strong brown paper and kept covered over in a very cold and dry place.

How To Make Pot Cheese

Put buttermilk and thick sour milk together - about one-third buttermilk. Put it into a clean vessel over the fire, make it scalding hot; then take the curd from the whey with a skimmer, put it into a muslin or linen bag, tie it up, and hang it to drain. After an hour or two take it down, moisten it slightly with sweet cream, put a little salt to it, work the salt into it and make it into balls the size of a teacup. Press them closely, lay on a cloth, and keep in a cool place. Serve for breakfast or luncheon. They should be eaten fresh made.

Cheese Pudding

Well beat two eggs, add to them a teacupful of cream, a little salt and pepper and two large spoonfuls of best grated cheese. Mix all well together and bake in a quick oven. - Or,

Beat one egg and mix it with two tablespoonfuls of milk, one of bread crumbs, and a quarter of a pound of grated cheese. If the cheese be dry, add half an ounce of warmed butter to the milk.

This pudding may be put into a mould, and boiled forty minutes; or, baked with bread crumbs and salamandered.