A Provolone Primer If buying and eating different cheeses has become a new interest for you, as it has for so many other Americans, then walking through a well-stocked cheese shop is cer tain to be an experience that excites the senses. Just breathe the air and the aromas are almost over whelming; sharp, pungent, savory, robust, mellow, even sweet. And the view: a panorama of cheeses of every shape and size imaginable. Provolone is easily recogniz able; waxed or oiled and sold in pear, ball, melon or salami shapes, it is often displayed and sold with the strings from which it hung dur ing curing. While the shiny outside surface ranges in color from light golden-yellow to rich golden brown, the interior is a creamy yellow-white. The texture is solid and compact, so itdoesn’tcrumble when cut, making it an attractive table cheese. American Provolone is made from cow’s milk, either raw or pasteurized. Starter is added to a Cheddar-type vat and the milk set with rennet and enzymes. Once the whey is removed, hot water is added and the curd is worked until it achieves a shiny, elastic and stringy consistency. Because the curd is stretched during produc tion, Provolone, like Moazzarella and Scamorze, is classified as a “pasta filata” cheese, meaning stretchy curd. Once the cheese is of proper consistency, it is cut and molded into various shapes and sizes, each of which is characterized by a dis tinguishing name. Typically, the style called Provolone is pear WEATHER VANE with every building purchased shaped and in the United States weighs about 14 pounds. Larger styles of 50, 100 or 22 pounds are called Provolone giganti. Smaller sizes of one to five pounds are vis ually sphere-shaped and are called a variety of names: Provoletti, Pro volotini and Provoloncini. Salame is the name given to sausage shaped Provolone weighing 10 to 12 pounds, and Salamini if smaller. After being shaped, the curd is then chilled in cold water to harden and salted in cool brine for several days. Once dried, supporting strings or ropes are tied in place and the cheese is hung to cure. Cur ing the cheese for a few months yields a flavor that is mild and creamy (Dolce); lengthier curing times produce a sharp, pleasantly piquant taste (Picante). Time and temperature are closely monitored throughout the curing process. Provolone may be smoked to enhance the taste and aroma, then waxed, oiled or wrapped in a pro tective plastic coating. American made Provolone has a moisture content of not more than 45 per cent, a fat content of 44 to 47 per cent. The salt content is a low 2 to 4 percent. The distinctive taste of Provo lone lends itself well to appetizers, snacks, entrees or desserts. A hap py accompaniment to ham, it is equally good with a hearty peasant meal of bread and sausages. It can end a meal elegantly, served on crackers with ripe pears, apples or grapes. Grated, it adds interest to casseroles and soups. And since it melts smoothly, it is an excellent Morton buildings Call or write today to arrange to see and hear more reasons why you should own a Morton Building 336 S York Rd Gettysburg. PA 1732 S Rd 110 Box 76 Mcedville. PA 16335 State Coflefe. Box 361 Centre Hall. PA 16828 Box 12fi Philliptbtirg, NJ 08865 1911 Industrial Drive Culpeper. VA 22701 P 0 Box 18/ Herrington. DC 19952 Methods Can Increase Lamb Production MINNEAPOLIS, MN. Intensive management practices and innovative veterinary tech niques can enable sheep producers to double or even triple lamb pro duction per ewe, Robert Ashley Robinson, BVSc, Ph.D., of St. Paul, MN, told editors at the annu al meeting of the American Asso ciation of Agricultural Editors. Dr. Robinson, Vice President of the American Association of Sheep and Goat Practitioners (AASGP), described opportunities to increase reproductive efficiency at a Livestock Health News Con ference co-sponsored by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and three other national veterinary organizations. “Some farmers now produce well in excess of 200 lambs weaned per 100 ewes mated, and the more ambitious are aiming to produce one pound of lamb per ewe per day over a 365 day per iod,” Dr. Robinson said. Sheep have a gestation period of only five months, but unlike cattle or swine, they tend to be seasonal breeders, and most ewes lamb only once a year, Dr. Robinson explained. Some ewes will lamb twice yearly or at least three times choice for cheese cookery. Provolone keeps well; simply wrap cut Provolone tightly in plas tic and refrigerate. For the best fla vor, serve at room temperature. CHORE-TIME mmm* feed bins Ph 717/624 3331 Ph 814/336-6083 Ph 814/364 9500 Ph 201/454-7900 Ph 703/825-3633 Ph 302/398 8100 anagemen We Will Assemble And Deliver Bins To Your Fern! COMPLETE SYSTEMS & EQUIPMENT SALES FOR CATTLE, HOGS & POULTRY AGRI- Authorized Chore-Time Distributor RD 4, East Farmersville Rd., Ephrata, PA 17522 (717) 354-6520 Hours: Mon.-Fri.: 7:30 AM - 4:30 PM nnova every two years. Another strategy is to induce multiple births, he said. Cross-breeding with certain breeds can have dramatic effects on flock reproductive performance by extending the breeding season (e.g. Dprsets) or by stimulating earlier onset of puberty and increased ovulation rates (e.g. Fin nish Landrace). Breeding soundness evaluations of rams should be conducted on a regular basis, Dr. Robinson said, because even temporary infertility can have a dramatic negative effect on reproductive efficiency. These evaluations also assure the timely culling of rams affected with vari ous infectious diseases that influ ence semen production. New techniques now available through veterinarians include a pregnancy diagnosis that tells far mers which ewes are pregnant and how many fetuses each is carrying to facilitate extra feeding of ewes carrying multiple fetuses. Embryo transfer and artificial insemination arc techniques with great potential for improvement of reproductive efficiency, but the sheep industry has been slow to adopt them, often because of technical problems, Dr. Robinson said. Exposing ewes to vasectomized rams can also improve reproduc tive efficiency by inducing ovula tion before mating with a fertile ram. Vasectomized rams are also being used to identify ewes that arc EQUIPMENT,,^ ennar e e not pregnant for culling. Other new techniques sheep practitioners are now able to offer producers include estrous induc tion (bringing ewes into heat), sychronization of cycles to get all ewes in a flock lambing at the same time, and induction of parturition to control the timing of deliveries. Two promising new techniques now being used successfully over seas have yet to be approved in the U.S.: use of androstenedione as a vaccine to increase the ovulation rate and melatonin, a hormone that advances the breeding season. Dr. Robinson highly recom mended veterinary investigation of abortion outbreaks in sheep flocks, noting that several effective vac cines or management changes are now available to prevent recurrences. “Upwards of 15 to 20 percent of all lambs bom die before weaning. Once a veterinarian determines the cause of these losses, it is possible to reduce mortality significantly by implementing preventive mea sures,” Dr. Robinson said. “By implementing an accurate, computerized recordkeeping sys tem and having a veterinarian exa mine the flock at three or four times during the year, sheep far mers can institute changes in nutri tion and management based on data instead of seat-of-the-panls intuition. The result will be signif icant increases in reproductive efficiency,” Dr. Robinson said. The feed bin is the very heart of any feeding system if the bin lets you down, the system quits. That’s why we put so many quality features into our complete line of feed bins - which includes 6-foot diameter steel or poly ethylene (great for H.M. com), 6-foot, 7-foot, and 9-foot models. All are avail able in several capacities - so you have a wide selection of bins to fit your needs. 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