User:Jimannie

A chisset is a round cheese mould used in farmhouse cheese making in Scotland for containing and pressing salted curd into a certain shape in which it can be matured before finally being sold. In Scotland,

The 'chissets' were made of oak wood and banded with iron for strength. They came in various sizes based on the width of the final cheese. Cheddar cheese were usually 60 to 80 lb in weight on the larger farms down to relatively small moulds used in Highland crofts that made a cheese of some 3-5 lb in weight. The first stage was to line the mould with a coarse cheesecloth called 'scrim' that would help to drain the initial flow of whey. The salted curd was then shoveled or hand filled into the 'chisset', and the final few handfuls being placed centrally to pack the 'chisset' completely. The ends of the 'scrim' were folded over neatly then the so-called 'follower' was placed on top. Being of slightly less diameter than the 'chisset', it would sink down into it slightly and so apply pressure to the curd within.

Having filled the 'chisset', be it on the croft or farmhouse, the next step was to consolidate the curd into a firm mass. Many and varied were the methods for doing this. It is essential to apply pressure progressively so that the whey can be uniformly expressed and not locked into the curd permanently. On the croft with a shortage of space and capital, recourse was made to that abundant local material - stone. The need was to secure a stone that would exert just the right amount of pressure relative to the size of the 'chisset', and experience was the best guide. However, a stone was a dead weight in itself as a single unit, and early trials were made using a stone with a screwed shaft sunk through it on an iron or wooden frame. This allowed the dead weight of the stone to be progressively applied and so improve the overall drainage and firming up of the curd. Such a system was in fact used by Barbara Gilmour, generally recognised as the founder of Dunlop cheese, and a similar press remains to this day at The Hill Farm near Dunlop where she lived and worked.