The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-04-24

gossip-but the truth of the matter
was that the owner of the cow was
so clearly and immaculate that oac-
terra were, as scarce there, Weil-as
sin at camp meeting. That is why
the milk did not sour-because there
were so few bacteria.
Professor Conn had a story which
was as much a classic for him as
Charles Lambs tale Of the roast pig.
When a shepherd boy in southern
France started out with the lunch OF
rye bread and cheese his mother had
prepared, he had no idea that lunch
would come down to posterity. He
put it in a damp cave to wait until
dinner time, and was then called
away suddenly and did not return for
lit Several weeks later he was IN the
vicinity and very hungry. He thought
of the lunch and went to the cave to
find both the bread and cheese COW
cred with q green mold. 1t looked
badly enough, but theSboy was hungry
and tried to see whether he could
stomach it. To his surprise he found
the cheese tasted better than any he
had ever eaten. He rushed to show it
| to his mother whereupon she placed q
quantity Of bread and cheese in the
cave and became the first maker OF
Rouquefort cheese.
| The soft cheeses OF Europe form
series OF most delicious products and
| in the past there was an increasing
demaAd in this country for the spe-
cies known as Camembert, Brie and
Neufchatel. For more than six years
Professor Conn made an exhaustive
study Of these cheeses. TThe Camem-
bert was particularly elusive, bnt it
beckoned encouragingly because 1t
was a favorite with Americans who
had travelled in Europe. For months
the Wesleyan laboratory was a reg
ular cheese factory. The experiment
itors finally got a soft cheese that
loked like the Camembert but the
flavor was a new one. For about
three years they wrestled with the
flavor, trying to hold up the bacteria
which produced it.
At last Professor Conn was able to
Isay:
Eyes, we have the flavor at last
Just now we are not in a position to
tell exactly what produces this, for
sometimes we get it exactly, and
again the favor is not as good. Until
we are sure Of it and failures are a
practical impossibility, we shall con-
tinue to experiment. When we can
state more definitely about the flavor,
cheesemakers all over the country will
begin to make this variety and we
will have Camen1bert cheese on the
market that will equal in every par
ticular the imported variety and at
considerably lower cost"
The work which followed was done
largely at the agricultural experiment
station at Storrs, under the direction
of Professor Conn. 1t was found that
although the French made perfect
Camembert cheeses by putting them
! in their cellars for a week or two,
they did not know what ripened them.
The same trick tried here did not give
| the same results. American atmoS-
pheres and American asphalted cell
| lars apparently did not contain the
right organisms.
| The only way left for the American
professor was TO- take the imported
cheese and study what Organisms
were found in it and then to inocu-
late the variety here with these or
ganisms After considerable difficulty
it was found by Professor Conn that
there were some 20 different molds in
some varieties Of imported Camem-
| bert, but it was finally learned that
of these only two were always present
and seemed necessary for the texture
and flavor
| Just how Professor Conn determined
that the bacteria called the oidiu1n
llactis, which is called a mold but
(which is not that, strictly speaking,
was concerned in giving the distinc-
tive CamenIbert flavor, but which
would not give it unless certain bac-
terra were associated with it in cor
rect combinations, one must go to a
work on cheese making. A perusal of
such a work will give one some idea.
however, what wizard in the field Of
bacteria has been taken away, With
the passing of Professor Conn.
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