STILTON CHEESE.

Having strained the morning’s milk, and skimmed the cream from the milk
of the preceding evening, mix the cream and the new milk together while
the latter is quite warm, and stir in the rennet-water. When the curd
has formed, you must not break it up, (as is done with other cheese,)
but take it out all at once with a wooden skimming dish, and place it
on a sieve to drain gradually. While it is draining, keep pressing it
gently till it becomes firm and dry. Then lay a clean cloth at the
bottom of a wooden cheese-hoop or mould, which should have a few small
holes bored in the bottom. The cloth must be large enough for the end
to turn over the top again, after the curd is put in. Place it in the
press for two hours; turn it, (putting a clean cloth under it,) and
press it again for six or eight hours. Then turn it again, rub the
cheese all over with salt, and return it to the press for fourteen
hours. Should the edges of the cheese project, they must be pared off.

When you take it finally out of the press, bind it round tightly with a
cloth, (which must be changed every day when you turn the cheese,) and
set it on a shelf or board. Continue the cloths till the cheese is firm
enough to support itself; rubbing or brushing the outside every day
when you turn it. After the cloths are left off, continue to brush the
cheese every day for two or three months; during which time it may be
improved by keeping it covered all round, under and over, with grass,
which must be renewed every day, and gathered when quite dry after the
dew is off. Keep the cheese and the grass between two large plates.

A Stilton cheese is generally made of a small size, seldom larger in
circumference than a dinner plate, and about four or five inches thick.
They are usually put up for keeping, in cases of sheet lead, fitting
them exactly. There is no cheese superior to them in richness and
mildness.

Cream cheeses (as they are generally called) may be made in this
manner. They are always eaten quite fresh, while the inside is still
somewhat soft. They are made small, and are sent to table whole, cut
across into triangular slices like a pie or cake. After they become fit
to eat, they will keep good but a day or two, but they are considered
while fresh very delicious.
