Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1909-05-28

WHAT Is CHEESE?
II Is Food that Contains the Little BAG
terra that Is the Friend of Humanity

ertu the real Nalue OF cneeSe ana why
it is of such value. This very latest
announcement reveals that millions
upon millions of tiniest of bacteria,
every one of them friendly to man
and every one of them bitterest enc
mics 10 all the rest of their family
that are not friends to the human
family. Those bacteria are unique.
There is apparently not another food
article in the list that is the strong
hold of such uniformly benefcicnt
hordes.
Professor Metchnikoff is at the fore
OF the Investigators and it is he who
has made most startling discoveries
OF late years the interest in cheese
has been most stimula ted. Did it
help the digestion? Should it be re-
gardcd rs an extra or as basis in
stead of meat? What checsrs are the
most nOurishing? What makes it a
good food? These are some of the
questions that arose.
When it was first invented, wheth-
er it Was first eaten from curiosity
or was no other food to be had, we
do not know. But we are told that
some of the old vessels that were
found with the small holes pierced in
them at different levels may have
been used in the preparation of curds
the holes helping escape of the milk
Anyhow, in ancient Greece, cheese
was eaten with honey and wines, and
and no doubt was capital staple
food.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries it seems to have been taken
more often in the cooked than in the
raw form, and there are many who
find the cooked form by far the most
digestible. At this time, however.
it seems to have been most popular in
tarts. And to-day cheese is not un-
commonly taken with apple tart in
Yorkshire
The famous Brie cheeses were sent
for by King Edward the First who
ordered a hundred cheeses of Brie.
And in the seventeen century cheeS e
with fruits in tarts was very stylish
dish.
1t was. apparently. Cohn who dis
covered that the ripening process of
cheese, and much of the tlavoring too,
were due to microbes. 1t is said that
in an Onnce of ordinary cheese there
are 65,OO0,00 microbes. Some
cheeseS seen under a microscope
look rs if they consisted almost en-
tirely of little animals.
1t used to be thought that cheese
had to be developed at a high tenn
perature; but American inveStiga-
tors, about thirteen years ago, found
that, at a temperature of 40, 80 or
60-instead of 10 degrees cheese
was of better taste and texture and
commanded higher market value
This did much to simplify the process
of cheese-making
The old idea that cheese helped the
digestion used to be taken for grant
ed. in spite of many failures in actu-
al experience. 1t was held that
cheese digested everything except
itself. Then there came reaction,
and cheese was condemned as the
most indigestible of all foods! What
is the truth of the matter?
Professor Mitchnikoff' s experiments is
and researches point to the conclu-
sion that in certain forms of milk
there are developed bacteria which
tend to health; those bacteria have
the power to destroy harmful bacter-
ia. Hence the growing popularity
of curdled milk, koumiss, KEEP hir, va
hourte, and so on, in cases of indi-
gestion. To some extent, then,
cheese may serve as digestive.
But, inasmuch as it has high food
value as a builder of the body, il
serves also as q kind of meat. In a
meal containing meat, then, it would
be rather like meat course at the
end of meal, after, at least, one other
meat course; and this-the fact that
it was an unnecessary food element
here would account for some of the
bad effects of nuts.
Food reformers now generally re-
gard cheese-if they use it in their
dletry-aS substitute for meat; they
put cheese, at any rate in lit cooked
fOrms-early in the meal.
AS to the value of cheeses as food
! bases to build the body, instead OI
meat, the following figures gives
the percentages of proteid, or albu
men, according to a leading authori
ty, raw beef having about 20 pei
cent:
Cream cheese, Sc; Camebert, 81
Stilton, nearly -; Gorgonzola, near
ly 70; Cheshire, 29.4; Dutch, 30.S
Gruyere or Swiss, 3l.5; Cheddar, 33
I; Gloucester, 36.7; Parmesan, 43 8
Different countries, and different
parts of England. have their specia
chieses people prefer one kline
some another. There are Dorset
Somerset, ChcSire, and many Other