On Food and Cooking

How Some    Familiar    Cheeses Are Made

Draining, Shaping, and Salting the Curds
The curds can be drained of their whey in
several ways, depending on how much
moisture the cheesemaker wants to remove
from the curd. For some soft cheeses, the
whole curd is carefully ladled into molds and
allowed to drain by force of gravity alone, for
many hours. For firmer cheeses, the curd is
precut into pieces to provide more surface
area from which the whey can drain or be
actively pressed. The cut curd of large hard
cheeses may also be “cooked” in its whey to
130ºF/55ºC, a temperature that not only expels