Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-06-08
ROMANCE IN CHEESE-MAKING.
Little Known Facts About Some of
the Famous Cheeses Brought Into
Our Markets.

Little known Facts About Some of
the Famous Cheeses Brought Into
Our Markets.
We have a COW in this country for
every four of the inhabitants. This
liberal allowance makes us the largest
producer of dairy products in the world,
in spite of the fact that we do not
seem to have the average Europeans
appreciation of the food value Of milk
and it's products. We produce more
than any other country in the world
simply because we have a very much
larger population than any other I'M
portant dairying country; but in some
Of the older European lands two or
three times as much milk and cheese
are consumed per capita as in the Uni
ted States.
We import large quantities of foreign
cheeses. 1t is probable that many of
our citizens who are fond Of imported
cheeses with word famous names. are
not acquainted with even the broad:
general facts concerning their manu-
facture. Some Of these facts, collect
ed here, may show that even the pro-
sale subject Of dairying has interest
ing features, 1t has also it's secrets
that are carefully preserved. Imita-
tions of a number of famous cheeses
are made in various countries, but
are very imperfect as we'll as spurious.
The broad facts Of the manufacture
are known, but there are certain essen
tial details that are not understood by
outsiders who try to reproduce them.
Few people who have not been to
Switzerland understand that one of the
greatest resources Of the country is the
Alpine pastures, where hundreds of
thousands of COWS are driven every
summer after the grass Is we'll started.
Far up among the mountains the herd
ers live, tending their herds and pro-
ducing tons and tons of cheese. There
are nearly 2,111,101 acres in these AL
pine pastures. All winter, the cows
are fed on hay in the valleys with no
the grassy slopes into life. Then they
begin to climb the mountains. At first
they Craze in the pastures Of the "vo-
ralpen," for the high meadows Of the
"mittelalpen," in the cooler and higher
attitudes, are not ready for them till
the season has considerably advanced.
Gradually they are driven to the high
er pastures where the Craze all sum-
mer; they do not leave these heights,
watered by the melting SHOWS from
the glaciers, till frost compe,s them to
seek lower attitudes; then they des-
cend as slowly as they had climbed the
slopes in the spring, and finally find
their way into the stables among the
valleys, where the farmers were cut
ting hay for them while they were feed
ing on the uplands.
While on the pastures they are tend
ed only by the herdsmen hired by the
COW owners in some hamlet to take care
of the animals and make cheese from
the milk they yield. At each Of the
stages on the slow journey up the
mountains there Is hut in which the
senn of herdsmen lives. 1t contains
the cheese making apparatus: most Of
the milk is made into cheese, though
butter is also a considerable product.
AS soon as the Sem steps out Of his
door he blows his Alpine horn, usually
made of birch bark, and his little
herd, obedient to the accustomed call,
come up to the hut to be milked. The
senn leads a solitary but very indus
trious life, for his time Is fully occu-
pied in milking, keeping the cows on
the range and making the cheese and
butter. About once in two weeks sup
plies are sent up from the village, and
the butter and cheese are taken down
the mountains, to be divided among the
owners of the cattle. A good deal OF
cheese is also made in the valleys, but
a large part of the Schweizer kase,
known and relished all over the world,
is made by these herders during their
solitary life in the mountains.
Perhaps many of the consumers OF
Rochfort cheese imagine that it is
made of cows milk. The fact is, how
ever, that genuine Rochfort is made
entirely of ewes milk and is distinct
i've product of a very small district at
Rochfort. among the limestone noun
tains of the Cevennes in the south OF
France The art of making Rochfort
cheese was perfected there at least nine
centuries ago and it has been handed
down through many generations. The
most peculiar feature of its manutac-
ture, and one which accounts for the
distinctive qualities of the cheese IS
that it is "ripened" deep under the SUR
face in natural limestone caves with
which this region abounds and in which
the temperature is low and equaole
the year around. In no other place can
the cheese be made to take the real
properties of the Rochfort. Caves have
been excavated in other place for the
purpose of making cheeses Identical In
chara cteristics with the real Rochfort
but the real article has never yet been