We are assured that nicely colored cheese will bring from a cent to a cent and a half a pound more than the same quality of cheese will bring when pale. Buyers in some instances advise the making of pale cheese because they have a special order for it; but they usually expect to get it a little under the highest market quotations, and factorymen who allow themselves to drop the color on the advice of an interested buyer, because it is easy and costs nothing directly to do so, run the risk of being caught and of losing a great deal more than they can save by omitting the coloring. We never heard of a lot of cheese being condemned because it was too nicely colored; but we frequently hear of complaints and losses because cheese is too pale. The chances are at least four to one in favor of high-colored cheese; and even the fifth chance is not positively against color, though the other four are strongly against _lack_ of color. He who wishes to have the widest range of markets, and to command the best markets, must pay strict attention to color--not only must he color, but color well and evenly.
We have an objection to color, for reasons satisfactory to ourselves; and buyers can have no interest in inducing makers to color their cheese, beyond the fact that it makes it more marketable--and in this, patrons and factorymen have a much greater interest than dealers can have. The market demands a rich, even color, and will not be satisfied without it. We say, therefore, _as a matter of dollars and cents_--not of taste, choice or convenience--_keep up the color_.
We will give two recipes for preparing annotto: 1. To five pounds of prime annotto put five gallons of strong ley, made from wood ashes; gradually heat up and dissolve the annotto, care being taken to not scorch it on the bottom of the kettle. Of course thorough stirring is essential. When the annotto is all dissolved, add five pounds of sal soda and five gallons of soft water. Then gently boil the whole for twenty or thirty minutes. This makes about ten gallons of prepared coloring. If boiled away to less, add sufficient ley and soft water, in equal quantities, to make that amount. Some omit the sal soda; but it is generally believed that it not only adds strength to the preparation, but improves the color by giving it more of a rich, buttery hue, instead of a red. The whole, when sufficiently cooled to handle safely, should be set in a tub, with a faucet two or three inches from the bottom, to settle. When settled, it can be drawn off, and is ready for use.