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Sage Cheese

There is a kind of sage cheese which used to be, and perhaps still is, made by a few families in Gloucestershire for their private consumption: it is the most delicious of any of the green cheeses. It is intended for immediate use, and will not keep long. A quantity of young sage-leaves are bruised in a mortar, and the juice is extracted from them: the juice of a quantity of spinach is extracted by the same process and mixed with the sage-juice in equal proportions. Just before the rennet is put to the milk, a quantity of this juice, regulated by the colour and flavour desired in the cheese, is mixed with the milk. As the curd is being formed, it is gently broken, and in equal lumps as nearly as possible. The whey is then separated, and the curd put into the vat and submitted to gentle and gradual pressure during seven hours. It is next salted twice a day for three or four days, and afterwards turned every day during five weeks. It is then fit for use. This cheese is very little known, and deserves wider recognition; it may be made anywhere with rich and unsophisticated milk.