TO MAKE CHEESE.—Put the milk into a large tub, warming a part until it is of a degree of heat nearly equal to new; if too hot the cheese will be tough. Put in as much rennet as will turn it, and cover it over. Let it stand until completely turned; then strike the curd down several times with the skimming dish, and let it separate, still keeping it covered. There are two modes of breaking the curd, and there will be a difference in the taste of the cheese accordingly as either is observed. One way is to gather the curd with the hands very gently towards the sides of the tub, letting the whey pass through the fingers until it is cleared, and skimming it off as it collects. The other mode is to get the whey from it by early breaking the curd. The last method deprives it of many of its oily particles, and is therefore less proper. Put the vat on a ladder over the tub, and fill it with the curd by the skimmer; press the curd close with your hand, and add more as it sinks; it must be left with two inches above the edge. Before filling the vat, lay the cheese cloth over the bottom, and when full, draw it smooth on all sides.
There are two modes of salting cheese; one way by mixing the salt with the curd while in the tub, after the whey is out, and the other is by putting the salt in the vat and crumbling the curd with it, after the first squeezing with the hands has dried it. The first method appears best on some accounts, but not on all, and, therefore, the custom of the country must direct. Put a board over, and one under the vat, and place it in the press. In two hours turn it out and put it in a fresh cloth; press it again for eight or nine hours; then salt it and turn it again in the vat; let it stand in the press for fourteen or fifteen hours, observing to put the cheese last made undermost. Before putting them the last time into the vat, pare the edges if they do not look smooth. The vat should have holes at the sides and at the bottom to allow the whey to pass through. Put on clean boards and change and scald them occasionally.
CREAM CHEESE, No. 1.—Put five quarts of new milk into a pan with five pints of cold and five pints of hot water, a little sugar, and as much rennet as will bring the whey in twenty minutes; when it comes strike the skimmer three or four times down and leave it on the curd. In an hour or two lade into the vat without touching it, and when the vat is full and the whey has run from it, put a weight upon it.
CREAM CHEESE, No. 2.—Take a pint of very thick sour cream from the top of the pan for gathering butter; lay a napkin on two plates and pour half of the cream into each plate. Let them stand twelve hours; then put them on a fresh wet napkin in one plate, and cover with the same. Do this every twelve hours until you find the cheese begins to look dry. It will be ready in ten days.
TO SCALD CREAM, (as in the west of England.)—In winter, let the milk stand twenty-four hours; in summer, twelve hours; then put the milkpan on a slow fire, or in a wide saucepan large enough to hold the pan; it must be on the fire till quite hot, but on no account boil, or there will be a skin instead of a cream upon the milk. You will know when it is done enough, as there will be a surface, looking thick and having a ring round the pan. The time allowed to scald cream depends on the size of the pan, and the heat of the fire; the slower the better. Remove the pan into the dairy when done, and skim it next day. In cold weather it may stand thirty-six hours, and never less than two meals. The butter is usually made of Devonshire cream this way, and if properly done it is very firm.
TO MAKE BUTTER.—In summer time skim the milk before the sun has heated the dairy; at this season it should stand, for butter, twenty-four hours without skimming, and forty-eight hours in winter; deposit the cream in a very cold cellar. If you cannot churn daily, change the cream into fresh scalded pots, but never omit churning twice a week. Keep the churn in the air, and if not a barrel one, set in a tub of water two feet deep, which will make the butter firm. When the butter is come, pour off the buttermilk and put the butter into a fresh scalded pan, or tubs which have been in cold water. Pour water on it, and let it lie to get hard before you work it. Then change the water and beat the butter with flat boards, so that not a particle of the buttermilk will remain; change the water until it ceases to become colored by the milk; then work some salt into the butter and make it into forms; put them into earthenware pans, filled with water, and cover them. You will then have very nice cool butter in the warmest weather.
TO PRESERVE BUTTER.—Take two parts of the best salt butter, one part of good loaf sugar, and one part of saltpetre; beat them well together. To sixteen ounces of butter, from which the buttermilk has been well worked, put one ounce of this composition; work it well, and when it has become firm and cold, pot it down. It should be kept from the air, in glazed pots, holding about fourteen pounds, and should not be used for a month at least.
TO PRESERVE BUTTER FOR WINTER.—When the butter has been prepared as above directed, take two parts of the best common salt, one part of good loaf sugar, one part of saltpetre, and beat well together. Work one ounce of this composition to sixteen ounces of butter; after the butter has become cold, press it into the pans, and put some salt on the top; if this does not make sufficient brine to cover the butter entirely, add some strong salt and water.
BLACK CURRANT WINE.—To every three quarts of juice put the same of water, and to every three quarts of the liquor add three pounds of good brown sugar. Put it into a cask, reserving a little for filling. Put the cask in a warm room, and the liquor will ferment of itself. Skim off the refuse, when the fermentation is over, and fill up with the reserved liquor. When it has ceased working pour three quarts of brandy to forty quarts of wine. Bung it close for nine months, then bottle it. Drain the thick part through a jelly bag until it is clear, and bottle that. Keep it ten or twelve months.
ORANGE WINE.—To five gallons of spring water put fifteen pounds of loaf sugar, and the whites of three eggs, well beaten; let it boil for half an hour, and as the scum rises take it off. When cold add the juice of sixty Seville oranges and five lemons; pare ten oranges and five lemons, as thin as possible, put them on thread, and suspend them in a barrel for two months; then take them out and put in a pound of loaf sugar, and bung up.
ELDERBERRY WINE.—Pour seven gallons of water over three gallons of berries; after it has stood two or three days, boil it an hour, and press the juice through a coarse cloth; then add to it fifteen pounds of sugar, half a pound of ginger, one ounce of cloves, one ounce of allspice. Boil all together, then put it in a tub, and when cold add some yeast, spread on toasted bread. After two days, put all in a cask, leaving the bung loose for two months; then add one quart of brandy.
CURANT WINE.—To one quart of currant juice, add two quarts of water; as the currants that have been squeezed will still have some sourness left, put to them a pint more of water for every quart of juice which has been expressed; squeeze the currants again, and add the juice to the other liquid. Let it stand over night, then skim it, add fifteen pounds of sugar to twenty quarts of the liquid; pour all into gallon jugs, or casks if you have a large quantity of wine, leave the corks of the jugs or the bung holes open if you use casks, until all the sediment has risen to the top; then draw it off in bottles. It is best to add one gill of the best brandy to each gallon of the wine when putting it into bottles; it improves by age. When sweeter wine is preferred, put one pound of sugar to each quart of the liquid.
Raspberry and gooseberry wine is made the same way, but with less sugar.
A GOOD WAY TO MAKE PUNCH.—Take two large fresh lemons, with rough skins, and some lumps of the best white sugar. Rub the sugar over the lemons till it has absorbed all the yellow part of the skin; then put into the bowl these lumps and as much more as the juice of the lemons may require, according to taste; then squeeze the lemon juice upon the sugar; press the juice and sugar well together. Then mix this up well with boiling water till the water is rather cool. When this mixture is to your taste, take brandy and rum, in equal quantities, and add them to it. Mix the whole together again; the quantity of liquor must he according to your taste. Two good lemons are generally enough to make four quarts of punch, including a quart of liquor, with half a pound of sugar; but this will depend on the taste, and on the strength of the spirit. The sherbet may be strained before the liquor is put in; some strain the lemon juice before it is put to the sugar, which is not proper, as when the pulp and sugar are well mixed it adds to the richness of the punch.
MILK PUNCH.—Pare six oranges and six lemons as thin as you can, grate them afterwards with sugar to get the flavor; steep the peels in a bottle of rum or brandy for two days; squeeze the lemons and oranges on two pounds of sugar, add to it four quarts of water and one quart of new milk, boiling hot; stir the rum or brandy into the above and run it through a jelly bag until perfectly clear. Bottle and cork close immediately.
GINGER BEER.—Three gallons of cold water, one quart of molasses, one tablespoonful of cream of tartar, three tablespoonfuls of ground ginger, and one quart of yeast; mix all together in a large vessel and let it stand for six hours, it may then be bottled and fit for drinking as early as possible.
RASPBERRY VINEGAR.—Put a pound of fine fruit into a china bowl, and pour upon it a quart of the best white wine vinegar; next day strain the liquor on a pound of fresh raspberries, and the following day do the same; but do not squeeze the fruit, only drain the liquor as dry as you can from it; the last time pass it through a canvass, previously wet with vinegar, to prevent waste; put it into a stone jar, with a pound of sugar to every pint of juice; stir it when melted, then put the jar into a saucepan of water on the stove; let it simmer, and skim it. When cold, bottle it. This is one of the most useful preparations that can be kept in a house for complaints of the chest, and pleasant as a drink. Do not use glazed nor metal vessels for it. Dose: one or two large spoonfuls in a tumbler of water.
RHUBARB VINEGAR.—Take a dozen good sized stalks of rhubarb, mash them in a tub, and then pour on five gallons of water; let it stand twenty-four hours ; then strain and add nine pounds of brown sugar, and a little brewers' yeast; let it remain in a warm place about a month, when it must be strained and put back in the cask again, until it becomes vinegar.