Milk Products - Cream, Butter, Cheese
( Originally Published Early 1900's )
Like milk, cream must be free from strong tastes or odors.
Gravity Cream. Cream obtained by letting the milk stand until the cream rises is known as gravity cream.
Separator Cream. Centrifugal or separator cream is obtained by passing milk through a machine that turns the milk so rapidly that the fat is separated from the milk. Most cream sold in cities and towns is centrifugal cream.
Cream for Whipping. Use cream twenty-four hours old, if obtainable, as it is best for whipping. Fresh cream can be whipped, however, if rich and very cold. Pasteurized cream, if to be whipped, must be very thoroughly chilled. Cream held for two hours at a temperature of 35° to 45° F. should whip in sixty seconds. If cream is too warm it will become oily and turn to butter when whipped. Whipped cream will not keep as well as plain cream. What per cent of butter fat is in your cream?
Good butter must be sweet, firm, and of good grain ; not oily. It must neither be streaked nor have specks of curd. It must not contain an excess of salt or water. What is the fat content of butter in your state?
In this country cheese is made from the milk of cows, but abroad the milk of sheep and goats is also used. Cheese is made from the curd of milk. The curd is produced by adding rennet (a powder made from the lining of the calf's stomach) to the milk, or by allowing the milk to sour and curdle. Most cheeses are made of the curd produced by rennet, but some Dutch and German cheeses are made from the sour milk. After the curd is pressed to remove the whey, salt and other flavoring materials are added and it is ripened, or stored until it has undergone certain changes in flavor due to bacterial growth. (What are bacteria?) The bacteria are probably in the dust of the air of the room where the cheese is made. Some cheese of peculiar flavor, such as Roquefort, can be made only in certain localities.
Cheeses are usually classified as cream, whole milk, and skim milk cheese. The cheese sold as cream cheese is often a whole milk cheese. Real cream cheese is made of whole milk to which a certain per cent of cream has been added.
Composition of Cheese. Cheese is about water, 1/3 fat, and 1/3 protein. A pound of cheese is nearly three times as nourishing as a pound of meat. Compare the cost. It is not as digestible as meat, owing probably to its density and to the quantity of fat it contains.
Selecting Cheese. Choose clean cheese of good odor. Examine it carefully to see that it is free from insects. Keep cheese in a cool dry place where flies and mice cannot reach it. It is very apt to mold if kept in a damp place.