The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-19
CHEESE FROM CAVERNS.
WERE AND HOW THE FAMOUS
ROQUEFORT Is MADE.

For &,OOO 1SdTS AZ has 6Sou sent TO
the Great Capitals of the world-An
Interesting Process Largely Carried
On in the Dark.
From the Ne,c York Times.
Travellers in the south of France are
greatly interested in what has been at some
remote time the scene of gigantic volcanic
disturbances. The ancient granite rocks
have been split and torn apart, and from
the bowels at them have been erupted vast
masses of lava, which have flowed in great
streams and buried the ancient surface
under hundreds of feet of curious basaltic
rock. In its turn this rock has been broken
No aud tasured by repeated outbursts and
thrown up into a mountain range, in which
are caverns and caves, from which belch
forth hot springs. sulphurous and bubbling
with gases, the effects Of the fires which
still exist in the depths.
One of these mountains consists of lime
stone and is covered with luxuriant grasses
But as to its interior il is followed by the
volcanic forces into a series of caves formed
Of vast masses Of rock thrown together as il
dumped promisouously from some great
hight, aud all connected with each other
and with some subterranean outlet, BY
which constant cool currents of air, always
of the same temperature and degree of hui
nudity, flow In a neVer-interrupted stream
BY no means known to man could so per-
feet an arrangement for q chemical labora-
tory Of even temperature and moisture and
free from every impure influence have been
better provided. And this laboratory by
some happy accident. perhaps, to the abo-
riginGl cave dweller, was discovered and
turned to use.
II the aboriginal man Of that region
whose bones and those of his sheep and dogs
lie together in these caves, made use Of this
rock and the caves under it, and the rich
grasses that covered the soil on ID, he pos
kiby MIXED his ewes and made OF the milk
Just such cheese as the Frenchman of the
present day makes in precisely the same
way, and sends to New York for the use of
the luxurious person who is willing to pay
81 pound for it. And just the same, the
predecessor of the Frenchman of to-day,
1000 years ago. sent the same kind Of
cheeses to the equally luxurious city Of
Rome for the feasts Of the rich people of
that city. This is doubtless the oldest kind
Of cheese that hes come down from such
distant period to the present unchanged in
character. and always popular for Its ex-
Quisite qualities.
This is the Roquefort cheese that Is made
from ewes milk in a most interesting man
ner. The sheep have been bred always for
their milking quality, and the bulk Of the
cheese Is still made of this kind Of milk
but recently, as the demand for it has in
creased some cows milk is used, without
any difference materially in the quality of
the product. 1t is not the milk or any
special preparation of it, upon which the
character of the cheese depends, but the
unique process of curing in these caves, in
which the temperature is precisely the same
every day in the year; the atmosphere is
pure and of an Interchangeable moisture, so
that the special germs which cause the fer
mentation always act in precisely the same
way, and thus the cheese never varies In
quality So that whether cows or sleeps
or goats milk is used, the cheers Is always
Roquefort.
1t is to-day just what it was when the
luxurious Romans found it, aud what it
was when the Gauls strove Intellectually
against the superior civilization of their
conouerors. 1t was the method of this con-
quering nation TO preserve everything that
was worth the saving they might find IN the
countries they overran, disturbing as little
as possible, but merely transferring into
their own hands the governments they
overthrow. Thus all useful industries were
preserved, and a settled and powerful gov-
eminent tended to encourage and strengthen
them.
Thus this cheese has descended TO our day
without any change whatever in the proc
esq, and all the modern discoveries In the
science of cheese-mRking only explain the
true inwardness Of it and make plain to the
modern practitioner what was before OBJ
scure, and learned only by many years Of
practice in these dark, cool, and windy
caves. We may now understand the reason
for every part of the intricate process. and
NAV 500 n the rnindc ava ri a T1innfa rrorr,o
at work changing the Gaseous matter into
fat, aud developing that rich flavor by
which this cheese has been known for more
than twenty centuries, and stands to-day as
triumph Of uneducated art.
The mountain on which the village of
Ro1uefort is situated is called Larzac, and
Is about rs miles in length and nearly 3, 900
feet high. The soil is chiefly limestone, and
the fertility of it ia only moderate The
natural pasture is thin, but it is made up
by crops OF clover, sanfoin, lucern and
mixed grains, as tares aud oats, or rye and
peas. These mixed crops, under good cult
ure, yield abundantly, and afford the
larger part Of the subsistence of the sheep,
of which about 300. 900 are kept to supply
the milk. By close breeding this race Of
sheep has become specially prolific OF milk,
rich in fat and caseine, having 5 and per
cent. respectively Of these elements of
cheese 1t is not so sweet as cows milk
This cheese is what we call ''half skim "
that is, the evenings milk is SKINNED, after
having been heated to near boiling, and set
until the morning. The fresh milk and the
SKINNED evenings milk are warmed to 90
and then curdled by the addition of large
spool full of rennet to So quarts or l20
pounds of milk. The heating and the
quantity of rennet used are varied as the
weather may be warm or damp, as this has
some effect upon the behavior of the milk
as is we'll known to cheesemakers. The
curG, when sufficiently firm, is cut to liber-
ate the whey. which is dipped of, and the
curd is lifted into the molds These are of
earthenware, and glazed, cylindrical in
form, and pierced with holes for
the drainage of the whey. They are
s inches In diameter and 80 deep, thus
making a cheese that weighs five pounds
when fully cured. AS the molds are filed,
the ourd is inoculated with ferment made
of dried moldy bread powdered. this being
well distributed among the curd by the
fingers as the curd is placed in the mold.
The curd is hesped above the edge or the
mold inches, so that as it shrinks the
cheese will Just fill the mold.
A second mold ts then filed in the same
way and placed on the first, and the curd
is covered with a plate Of lead. which
serves to press it and get rid of the excess
Of moisture from 1t. When this has been
effected the cheese will have shrGnk within
the limits Of its mold. The whey drains
from the cheese into channels cut in the
table upon which they are laid, aud is re-
moved. The apartment in which this work