[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Bottles of Starter.]
When cottage cheese is to be produced in large quantities it is
advisable to use a starter. Starters aid and hasten acid fermentation
and tend to suppress and eliminate undesirable fermentation. A starter,
in brief, is a quantity of milk in which the acid-forming bacteria have
grown until the milk contains a great number of them. There are two
kinds of starters, commercial and homemade.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Stirring in starter and rennet and taking
temperature.]
_Commercial Starters_
When cottage cheese is to be made on a large scale it is advisable to
use a commercial starter, obtainable from a reliable starter company or
through a dairy-supply house. The small package of starter, which may be
either liquid or solid, is added to a pint of pasteurized skim milk and
the milk covered and set away at 75° F. to sour. This is called a
“mother starter.” After curdling or coagulation, a teaspoonful of the
“mother starter” is added to a quart of pasteurized skim milk, which,
when coagulated, is used to ripen the milk for cheesemaking. In
pasteurizing milk for starters, it is heated to 175° F. and held at
that temperature for 30 minutes, after which it is cooled to 75° F.
before the starter is added.
_Homemade Starters_
Homemade starters are made as follows: