Cheese takes an important place at the table; not alone, in its simple place at the close of the dinner, but that it forms the foundation of many excellent dishes. The selection of good cheese requires both judgment and experience; a delicate palate and a keen sense of smell are two essential requisites, while the eye is an assistant to point out those defects independent of taste or smell. A prime cheese is readily told by a connoisseur by the colour and texture, without consulting either nose or palate.

The inexperienced are apt to be deceived in cheeses of the finest quality; when testing it by the taster the smell is strong, and the taste acrid, it is therefore rejected, whereas if cut and suffered to remain for two or three days in a dry closet, exposed to the air, the flavour would become both pure and agreeable. To avoid this error the best plan is to lay in a stock of Cheshire cheese, keep it in a dry cellar in a box, bury it in saw-dust, and in about three months it will be greatly improved, and fit to cut. Divide a cheese into two halves, or take out one-fourth, according to the consumption, and cover the cut parts of the cheese reserved with butter, or lay close to the sides cut a buttered paper, and keep the cheese in a dry place; the part in use should be exposed in the larder for about three days, it will then be ready for the table.

Cheshire Cheese

Is the finest flavoured of the English cheeses, although Stilton is looked upon as the greatest luxury.

Stilton Cheese

Is usually made in the spring, and appears at table at Christmas; it is however all the better for being kept at least twelve months before use. Various modes are employed to improve the flavour. A piece of Cheshire affected by mites is inserted in an aperture, and stopped with a wet cloth; in a month it ripens the cheese, and some bon vivans will go into ecstacies when taking it as a relish with a glass of old port. Another mode is to make an excavation in the shape of an inverted cone, and pour into the hollowed space four glasses of port, claret, or Madeira, according to fancy; this being suffered to soak in for three weeks or a month is considered to bring the cheese to a state of unapproachable perfection. This may suit many palates it is true, but the purity of the flavour is destroyed; the best judges and the best makers aver the finest Stilton is that which ripens without adventitious aid.

North Wiltshire

Is rich and of fine flavour; they are fit for table, if carefully kept, in nine months.

Double Gloucester

Is also an excellent cheese, noted for making Welsh rabbits; is very good for a stew; it comes to perfection in about ten months.

Single Gloucester

This if well made is of a delicate and fine flavour, it is at perfection in six months. This is the cheese used at taverns for Welsh rabbits.

Derby Cheese

Is of an agreeable colour, a fine texture, and "by epicures is considered the best toasting cheese; it is ready for table in ten or twelve months.

Cheddar Cheese

Is in excellent repute at good tables; it is ripe for use from nine to twelve months.

Dunlop Cheese

A Scotch cheese made in Ayrshire, it is held in high estimation at the best tables in Scotland.

Cream Cheeses

There are several sorts, the Cottenham, an exquisite flavour; the Bath, very fine when prime; the Devonshire, the Stilton, and many others; they are thin in form and should be eaten new.

Foreign Cheeses

That which for years has borne the highest reputation is the Parmesan, made at Parma, in Italy; and it still maintains its position. Formerly the manufacture of this cheese was confined to the dairies of Parma and Piacenza, and there the best cheeses were made, but the district of Lodi has now run away with the palm.

Gruyere Cheese

Is a production of Switzerland, the Rochefort is from ewes' milk, the Neufchatel, a French cheese. They are esteemed delicacies, but to the palate of a connoisseur and gastronomist, a fine old English Cheshire stands unrivalled.

Cream cheeses for keeping should be placed between two plates to ripen, they should be covered every morning with fresh leaves from the garden, and at the same time turned.

Where much cheese is kept in stock, a rack should be made for them, and space left between them. They are greatly improved by being put upon a wine cask, brushing and turning them once a week, or should there be no wine in cask the beer cask will serve, it will ripen and mellow the cheese; they should be occasionally turned. Use the ripened and mellowed first, and take the cheese from the rack to the table as it is wanted.

The best cheeses have thin coats, and weigh heavier in proportion to their size.

The round Dutch cheese of the best quality and mot over salt may be used for toasting; cheeses made of skim milk have been considered best for that purpose, many even preferring them to the North Wiltshire, the richest and fattest of the English cheeses. When mites have taken possession of a cheese, and this is considered objectionable, the following receipt, by a Derbyshire lady, will have the effect of destroying them without injury to the cheese. " Wipe the cheese, put it into a pot in which mutton has been cooked whilst the water is yet hot, make the water boil a few seconds, take out the cheese, wipe it immediately, dry it, and then put it away in a dry place until required for use.