Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-09-25
CHEESE MAKING.
dOW THIS FOOD PRODCCC Z
MADE ABROAD.

| dOW THIS FOOD PRODIGY 4
MADE ABROAD.
Processes by Which the Foreign Ar
ticle Gets the Quality GOurmets
Relish SO Much - ROQuefort
Cheese Ripened in Caves.
N England the Cheddar. the Ches
shire and the celebrated StiltoI
cheese, says the New York World
& are made by procasses which ar
comparatively we'll known. In q great
measure their quality depends upo.
the caxs With which they are aged
| Among Eu pean cheeses. which with
| in Q couple Of decades in this couatE1
have superseded those of England /.
popularity, there is a certain mystery
in the processes by which they ars
manufactured. In the soft cheesei
the product of the New Jersey farm
may really be A.id to fairly compet,
with those of Europe. But these imi
tations have their restrictions. Fo,
instance, these worthy imitators of Z
delicacy SO popular have either vainly
or not at all atten ted to reproduce
the famous Roquefort.
This cheese is probably one of tn,
Oldest known. It is certainly o-a OF
the Oldest mentioned in any W. tten
book. Pliny mentions it in one of hit
works, and Rabelais when he wrote
the phrase that has since become sc
commonplace, "that the moon is made
of green cheese, is more likely ia
have had in mind the green-streaked
Roquefort than the green sage cheese
Of England of the time of Shakespeare.
The making of Roquefort cheese ii
something of a romance. The village
from which it takes its name is stu.
ated in a deep, narrow gorge, with
high. precipitous walls of limestone
rock. This cheese is made from the
milk of the black goat, which has g
fertile pasturage of ten or twelve
leagues IN the valley below.
This milk is heated almost to boiling
and set aside. In the morning it il
SKINNED, heated to ninety-eight de.
grees and mingled with the mornings
milk for coagulation. When the curd
has been divided with a clean wooden
paddle and the whey drawn off it il
we'll kneeded by the hands of the
pretty mountain maidens and pressed
in layers into moulds with perforated
bottoms. Usually thin layer OF
mouldy bread is placed between the
layers of curd, the object beng to
hasten the ripening by supplying the
green mould peculiar to this cheese.
This bread is always made the week
before Christmas, of equal parts OF
summer and winter barley, with con.
siderable sour dough and a little vine
gar. The mouldiness which this pro-
duces is not sufficiently apparent for
the taste of the high-classed connois-
sieur, unless the cheese is kept for
three months and its action hastened
by warmth. When it strikes the
peasant that it is mouldy enough the
cheese is ground, sifted, moistened
with water and kept from contact with
the air.
In the caves and fissures in the wall,
If the town, and in vaults rudely con-
structed in these assures, the ripen-
ing of the Roquefort cheese is carried
on by the cold currents of air which
whistle through them all the year
round. Those vaults which have cur
rents flowing from south to north are
believed to yield the best cheese.
The proprietor of these caves keeps
the cheeses sometimes for several
years. The cheeses when brought in
are classified according to their merit.
Salt is sprinkled over them, ana they
are piled one on another for two or
three days. Then they are taken
down, the accumulated salt carefully
rubbed in and then they are piled up
again and left for a week. They are
scraped and pared, pricked through
and through with needles driven by
machinery in order to accelerate the
gathering of the green mould in the
interior, and after this are left in
piles again for fifteen days, till they
become dry and firm in texture and
their interiors begin to be covered
with mould.
Another foreign cheese which is {,
:avorite here is the small, round
Dutch cheese known as the Edam. 1t
is called after small and fourishing
town of that name, located not far
from Amsterdam. It looks very
much like a small red cannon ball, and
there is story that when, during the
siege of one of the cities of Holland,
the real cannon balls gave out, these
,heeses were used to supply the guns.
Another favorite, which is found in
every French restaurant in this city,
but is not nearly SO well known as it
deserves to be in American restau-
rants, is the Gruyere. This takes its
name from Switzerland, where it is
supposed to have originated, but as q
matter of fact it is now made largely
in Germany, in France and in New
Jersey. What is called the real
Gruyere is mostly made in little huts-
sometimes called chalets-high up in
the Alps at the time of the year when
the pastures on the mountain sides are
accessible and these little huts inhab-
table.
The milk is put into a great kettl.
md swung over gentle fire, where
it obtains temperature of seventy
seven degrees. Then the rennet is
added; when the coagulation has ad-
vanced far enough the curd is cut in
to very fine pieces. Then it is rubbed
and sifted through the fingers into the
kettle again, and submitted to a tenn
perature of ninety degrees. lis then
strained from the whey and collected
in cloth. Salt is rubbed in carefully
from time to time on the outside.
One of the stories told OF the com
moner Swiss cheeses of this kind is
that of a tourist not well supplied
with cash, who was walking through
the Alps. He called at an inn and de-
manded q cheese sandwich and a glass
of milk. What he obtained in re.
opous. 10 hls order was two slices Oi
buttered bread and a glass of milk.
"But where is the cheese?" he said
to the waiter.