Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-01-26

rapid, providing all other conditions are
equal. And so It is with the coagulstion of
milk with rennet; different conditions of
the milk affect the rapidity Of the process.
The different constituents Of milk are diff
ferently affected by the same chemical
agent. For instance; an alkali viii neh-
tralize any existing acid, formed from the
sugar of the milk, and it will also unite
with the butter or oily portion to form soap.
An acid will cause a change Of the sugar Of
milk to Tactic acid, and will also coagulate
the casein and albumen. Thus we see that
different changes may be taking place in
the milk at the same time, some rapid and
others slow, while some cannot begin until
others are complete; or nearly SO, and each
and all take more or less time; hence the
slow process Of eheese-insking Is superior
10 the rapid, only in this, that an amoun of
time is given for the necessary chemical
changes to take place, and had we the
the requisite knowledge to enable us to
employ suitable chemical agents and OBJ
serve the necessary conditions, l believe as
good q cheese could be made in one hour as
in ten but until we do understand all this,
the SLOW process is the safest for us to pur-
sue.
"Porodsness," observes Mr.. Powell, Gas
l saw it in cheese abroad, is Of three distinct
species, arising from three distinct causes
first, a fine pinhole sppearance-the effect
of too strong rennet; second, the common
well-known, open, sPongy appearance
eauses, too new milk, and putting to press
where SO warm that fermentation and cur
ing go on too rapidly third, and worst OF
all, porousness caused by uneven sailing,
resulting in decomposition of the cheese -
Here ! must differ from Mr.. Powell, as /
hold that there is but ono catise of porous
cheese, and that the different appearances
of the ~poTousness is occasioned by different
development OF that cause under different
conditions.
How the action of rennet can be supposed
TO cause porosity am at a loss 10 perceive,
for it must be evident to all that its action
is to consolidate and contract, and not to ex-
pand and porous cheese is certainly caused
by expansion and as contraction and ex-
pansion are Numerically opposite, how can
the same agent be productive of these con-
trary effects? No; in order to account for
porousness in cheese we must show either
that S netting, some portion of the solid
matter of the cheese has escaped and passed
off either in q gaseous or liquid form and has
left, as pores, the places previously occupied
by this matter which hss escaped,A-or else
SOME chemical change has taken place and
some portion of the solid constituents of the
cheese has escaped into the condition of gas,
dlu CCuuiO5 nuCur mOEC space LO0n. II 0l0
Id its solid stdte. Now IL cannot be the first
of these, for a porous cheese undergoes nc
greater diminution of weight in curing than
a solid one, and, in fact, from the time it
leaves the press until its p~orosity becomes
fully established it does not lose as much in
weight as another cheese which has re-
manned solid. A cheese may even loose ten
per cent. Of its weight by leaking whey, as
we term it, and still be as solid as a cheese
can be; so that we are compelled to attri-
butte a porous cheese to the formation Of an
elastic, expansive gas.
Now the question is, how is this gas pro-
duced 7 which one of the constituents of
the milk has been decomposed to form il?
1t annot be ~casein, for the action of the
rennet in producing coagulation and con-
~solidation, is an action produced by con-
tract and no element of the casein has been
liberated no new combination is formed /,
its elementary constituents remain the
ssme. There may be a Encouragement of
the atoms, but none are lost and none added;
1t is casein still. For the same reason it
ann be the sugar of b milk, for, although
it may be changed to lac tic acid, its elemen-
tary constituents remain the same and in
the same proportion, the arrangement of its
atoms and their combining numbers alone
undergoing any alteration. It might posi-
" d4ioC " a uAlOA VI ldCLlC dClu WIFI
lime, if lime were present, but in this case
the gas produced would be carbonic acid,
which has none of that offensive odor al
ways to be found in a porous cheese. It
cannot be the butter, for that remains en-
tirely unaltered, with no change Of atomic
arrangement even. Now we have but one
other solid constituent of milk from which
it can arise, and that is the -albumea- This
is one Of q class of compounds whose COM
bining numbers ara very large, and all such
comblnatio. ) are easily taken UP, and their
elements enter into new forms and combi-
nations with lower combining numbers and
more permanent in character.
When brought in contact with q ferment,
in other words when vsecinsted with putrid
matter, decomposition is rapid, or, as | shall
express it, putreiactive fermentation is very
active, and an inyariable product of this
fermentation is sulphuretted hydrogen I;
and here we are IN the possession Of all the
conditions necessary for q porous, sinking
cheese.
Salt and a low temperature retard putre-
faction, and anything which will eoagulate
the albumen and render it insolubie viii of
course exert an shtiseptic influence and
cheek putrefaction and in order to prevent
Putrefactive fermentation of the albumen
IN milk, or of what is retained in the cheese,
there seems to be bit thfts AVENUES of es-
cape: first, to preserve q temperature sufh-
GENTLY low to prevent it, which in a climate
like ours is simple impossibility ; second, to
add a sufficient amount of sa t to prevent
1t, which we know would ruin aeheese,
making it hard and dry OF; third, to use
some means to c~oagulate it, in which condi-
ton It'll as readily preserved as c~asein, or
any other cosgulable protein compound.
Rennet will not coagulatej acids will.
We are now prepared to attempt an ex-
PLANTATION Of the different species of porous
ness spoken Of. by Mr.. Powell, and will try
TO reconcile it to the idea Of Il and only
one cause, to wit: PHtrgactive fermentG.
ton Of the Al6UneB. First. "The fine pin
hole appearance" Putrefaetion often begins
in the milk before the rennet is added
Whenever this is the case, the gas is pro-
duced simultaneously with the action of the
rennet, and SO soon as the casein becomes
sufficiently consolidated to prevent the free
escape of the gas the cdrd Begins to assume
precisely this fine ~pin-hole porousness; so
that undoubtedly this species of porousness
is produced by p~utrefactiVe fermentation at
the early stage of the process.
Second. The common, opel spongy ap-
pearance:" This is undoubtedly owing to
the same cause, only that putrefaction of
the albumen does not begin until after the
cheese is pressed, and the whey which con.
tains the albumen in solution, being nearly
all expelled, there is but a small proportion
of it left, sufficient however, when decom-
posed by its expansive force 10 separate the
particles of ctird; and as the union of the
particles is not perfect, they are forced apart
at the points of least resistance. Hence it
not unfrequently happens that in a porous
a part of it between the cavities will
be very 6 lid, and the larger the cavities,
he more apparent will this be.
"Third and worst Of all" Mr.. Powell OBJ
serves, sis when the cavities are partially
filed with. a soft gummy substance of a
most intolerable odor, and is undoubtedly
cheese; and is caused by un-
sailing, a radical defect in our system
cheese-making."
The defect to which Mr.. Powell here
alludss in our system of cheese making, I
is, that re do not grind our curd be-
lore sailing, as the English do, but frequent
y salt 1t while in comparatively large and
Uneven sized Jumps.
Here, too, l think Mr.. Powell is mistaken,
the same cause in this as the others pro-
iucing the porousness, the difference being
hat cheese of this character having more
whey lett in them and consequently more
II the albumen in a state of solution, also a
lack of salt, and the cheese being
iept in a comparatively cool condition, pu-
progressed more slowly, so slowly,
n fact, that il was not until the albumen
vas collected in the cavities that it was COM
'leted. Hence the ~mucilsginous, gummy
roducti in the cavities, which he speaks of,
5 in fact decomposed albumen.
These are my views with regard to the