Brie Cheese

This is a large, flat, soft, round cheese, from three-fourths of an inch to one inch thick, and ten to twelve inches in diameter, made in the district of Brie, about twenty-five miles from Paris. It is the most popular Parisian cheese, many millions being sold in that city every year. Brie is made from new milk, though a cheese termed "facon Brie" is made from partially skimmed milk. When sufficiently firm to be removed from the mould the cheese is placed in a separate apartment until, after turning daily, it is covered with a white mould; it then is placed in another apartment to take the blue and red mould - the latter, however, which improves the flavor, is not to be had in all dairies. One gallon of rich milk makes a large cheese. Brie is ready to eat in about six weeks.

Camembert Cheese

Next to Brie, this is the most popular French cheese. It is small and round, and weighs about eleven ounces, and is covered with blue mould on the top of a white one. Camembert is chiefly made in the Calvados, in Normandy, which is the center of a large and important industry. The milk is placed warm in wooden tubs provided with lids, brought to a curd in two and one-half hours, removed by the help of large ladles into the metal moulds, about five inches high by four inches in diameter, and turned in from six to eight hours, then turned again the following day, and finally removed, the curd being meanwhile upon straw or rush mats. When firm enough the cheeses are salted in the hand, turned daily on shelves until covered with white mold, removed to another apartment to take the blue mold, where they are ripened and ready for use in from five to six weeks. Temperature and humidity, as effecting the growth of the fungi, are all important in the manufacture of this cheese.

Cheddar Cheese

Is one of the very finest of cheeses. It is pale in color, mellow, and when good resembles a hazelnut in flavor. The cheddar principle pervades the entire cheese-making districts of America, Canada and New Zealand, but no cheese imported by us can equal the cheddars of Somerset and the West of Scotland. Cheddar cheeses are made from 100 to 150 pounds in weight, but the Wilts loaf and the West Gloucester cheeses of England are made upon a principle closely resembling the cheddar. The curd is brought in an hour at from eighty to eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit, broken down, gently heated by the addition of hot whey until the curd has become firm and shotty. The whey is then removed, the curd pressed, cut up, piled, aired to induce the formation of acid, again cut, salted, ground and vatted. It is then pressed and finally removed to the curing-room, where it remains at a temperature of from sixty-five to seventy degrees Fahrenheit, and is regularly turned until it is ripe.

Cottage Cheese

Pour some boiling water into a pan of clotted sour milk. Stir, turn it into a colander, pour a little cold water over it, salt and break it up. A richer way is to put equal parts of buttermilk and thick milk into a kettle together over the fire, heat it until nearly ready to boil, pour into a linen bag and let it drain until the next day. Then remove, salt and put in a little cream or butter, according to whether it is thick or not, and make up into balls the size of an orange.