The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1899-02-24
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'1DAlRY &QREAMERY.l
AMERICAN CHEESE.
Sins of Omission and Commission In
Its Manufacture.

Sins of Omission and Commission In
Its Manufacture.
In a recent address before the Mime
sofa Dairymen's association M. Schem-
bri declared it to be notorious fact
that the standard American cheese,
called cheddar, is the most indigestible
of all cheese that is made. 1t is like
nothing on earth but itself, No other
country known makes as poor and in
digestible an article as the American
cheese factory. To be sure, some of them
put cream enough in to make it palat-
able, but there is a decided absence of
what may be called European ripeness
1t seems to be made simply to sell by
weight. Therefore the sooner it can be
got into the market the better. The
facts are thus in evidence that the only
way to success is through the stomach
of the average consumer Give him a
palatable article that he is able to di-
gest and the cheese industry will have
q solid foundation.
On the Swiss Alps, where the trade
in that article is the largest part of
commerce, cheese is the staff of life in
the fullest sense of the word, as it
makes large part of the meal three
times day 800 days in the year. Ban
ishment of cheese from the table would
in those districts seem as disastrous as
to remove the sun from the armament.
Science has of late cast considerable
light on the process of curing cheese.
kln+
bacterial work, and that bacteria must
have favorable conditions and time to
do the work right. The first of these
conditions is good milk, and that can
only be had from cows that are content
ed, healthy and clean.
The milk should be drawn amid clean
surroundings. The finest product is
made from milk that is drawn in the
open air.
To give the cheese the best keeping
quality the milk should be made into
curd, as fresh from the COW as possible,
SO that bacterial work may not be in
terrupted
The use of water to lower the tenn
perature of the whey and curd should
not be practiced, because, besides the
fact that water often contains germs,
it will wash out part of the flavor. A
better plan is to dip out part of the
whey and set away to cool, on ice, for
instance.
The curd should be brought into the
desired shape before it comes in con-
tact with the air, and the hoops and
molds should be so constructed az to be
easily made to conform to the shape of
the loaves, as any manipulation of the
curd, after it is placed into the mold,
gives chance for the air to penetrate in
to it, and, taking into consideration
that the force of pressure of air is about
10 pounds to the cubic inch, it is easy
to realize the powerful effect it must
have on the cheese.
If the milk is contaminated with ex-
crement or the odor from it or is
adulterated with preservatives, these
indispensable little friends, called bac-
terra, meet with stumbling blocks which
they are unable to overcome, and cheese
that is ripened under such adverse cir
cumstances lacks the keeping quality
that is absolutely necessary fer sufficient
time in which to cure it.
Salt is slightly antiseptic, and this
antagonizes bacterial work. 1t should
therefore be withheld for the first two
to five days; this gives bacteria time to
become firmly established. After that it
should be applied in quantities to guide
h,,t NOT interoent tho slow fermentat iOn
that is commonly called breaking
down. Sailing in brine simplifies the
curing process, but for very best results
it should be applied only in small guam
titles at time. When cheese is proper
ly made and cured it grows milder with
age and becomes absolutely self digest
ing.