Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-07-19
CHEESE MAKING FACTS
LITTLE KNOWN DETAILS ABOUT THE
FAMOUS BRANDS.

Even the Prosaic Subject OF Dairving Has
Interesting Features-Rochfort Ii Not
Made of Cows Milk-A Peculiarly Of
the Edam Cheese.
We have a cow in this country for
every four Of the inhabitants. Ihis
liberal allowance makes us the largest
producer of dairy products In the
world in spite Of the fact that we 10
not seem to have the average Euro
pean's appreciation of the food Value
of milk and its products. We produce
more than any other country IN the
world simply because we have q very
much larger population than any other
important dairying country, but in
some of the older European lands two
or three times as much milk ana
cheese are consumed per capita as In
the United States, says the New YORK
Sun.
We import large quantities of foreign
cheese. 1t is probable that many Oh
our citizens who are fond of imported
cheeses with world famous names are
not acquainted with even the Droau'
general facts concerning their manu-
facture. Some of these facts, collect
ed here, may show that even the
prosaic subject of dairying has inter-
esting features. 1t has also its secrets
that are very carefully preserved. lml-
tations 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 essential de-
tails that are not understood by out
siders who try to reproduce them.
Few people who have not been to
Switzerland understand that one or
thu greatest resources of the country
is the Alpine pastures where hundreds
of thousands of cows are driven every
summer after the grass is well started.
Far up among the mountains the herd
ers live, tending their herds and pro-
ducing tons and tons Of cheese. There
are nearly gill, 101 acres in these AL
pine pastures. All winter the cows are
fed on hay in the valleys with no
change in their diet till the sun warns
the grassy slopes into life. Then
they begin to climb the mountains. At
first they Craze in the pastures of the
"voralpen," 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 higher pastures, where they
Craze all summer; they do not leave
these heights. watered by the melting
SHOWS from the glaciers, till frost COM
pels them to seek lower attitudes; then
they descend 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
We're cutting hay for them while they
were feeding 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
mountain there Is hut In which the
Sem or herdsman lives. 1t contains
the cheese-making apparatus; most of
the milk is made into cheese, though
butter is also q considerable product.
AS soon as the Sem steps out Of his
door in the morning he blows his Al
pine horn, usually made of birch bark,
and his little herd, obedient to the
accustomed CALL come up to the hut to
be MIXED. The Sem leads solitary
but very Industrious life, for his time
is fully occupied in milking, keeping
the cows on the range and making the
cheese and butter. About once in two
weeks supplies are sent up from the
village and the butter and cheese are
taken down the mountain to be d.
vided among the owners of the cat
tie. A good deal Of cheese is also
made in the valleys, but 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 q dis
tinctive product of very small dis
trict at Rochfort, among the lime
stone mountains Of the Cevennes In
the south of France. The art of max
ing 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 manufacture and the one
which accounts for the distinctive
qualities Of the cheese is that it Is
"ripened" deep under the surface in
natural limestone caves with which
this region abOunds and in which the
temperature is low and equable the
year round. In no other place can the
cheese be made to take the real prop
critics Of the RochfOrt. Caves have
been eXcavated in other places for the
purpose Of making cheese identical In
characteristics with the real Rochfort,
but the real article has never yet been
produced away from its native home.
In some years about 10,000,000 pounds
of RochfOrt cheese are made from the
milk of 100000 ewes.
The round Dutch product known as
Edam cheese has one popularity that
is shared by few other cheeses In the
worlds markets. The factory meth
DDS of cheese making have been so