The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-08-31

mystery Of how the holes get into
Swiss cheese. which has 90 long
bafRled the cheese experts Of this
country has been solved. As =
consequence, America IL pitching
into the Swiss cheese industry on
: large scale. Already two car
loads Of American-Swiss cheese.
fiddled with holes just like those
made in the Alps, have been ship
ped to Switzerland itself; 50 that
by now the news Of Americas lat
est project must be pretty we'll
circulated throughout the original
homo Of the cheese with the hole.
It IL too soon for as to get any
oficial word ~ to how the Swiss
are taking this invasion into. their
favorite industry. It b believed
that they will be somewhat alarm
cd, for the United States has al
ways been . large consumer of
Swttxer1and's best. But II we can
make it satisfactorily for ourselves.
and enough of it, the Alpine cheese
may have to look about for new
customers.<
II you are not . Swiss ehssss
addict. you may not realize that
this delicacy has quite q hold on
the American people. Switzerland
ships 10000, 900 pounds Of 1t to this
country every year, and Swiss
cheeseries over-~here produce an
other 10000, 900, though up to now
a good deal of the domestic prod
uct has been equipped with a very
inferior grade Of holes.
The formula for making the
cheese has never been a secret, but
it was always supposed that the
air or grass of Switzerland con-
tanned some magic ingredient nee
essary to produce the best holes
and until recently the results OBJ
tanned by cheese makers in this
country have served to confirm the
impression. =
Holes Must be Right
Holes, or eyes as they are tech
nically called, are so important in
Swiss cheese because they are ar
indication Of good flavor. If the
eyes are large, round, glossy at the
edges, and evenly distributed, the
cheese has all the earmarks Of q
masterpiece. II the holes are fiat
small, or altogether lacking, the
cheese is likely to be deficient in
favor.
Some years ago the dairy divis.
ion Of the department of agricul'
ture decided to find out why oul
home grown Swiss cheese lacked
the proper characteristics, as it sc
often did. Enquiries put to Swiss
dairymen in Wisconsin showed thai
the Swiss cheese makers knew
only the formula to follow ant
nothing of the chemistry involved
They attributed the less satisfac
tory results achieved in this coun
try to the different surroundings
though in Wisconsin they fount
conditions most similar to theil
native land.
! Even a visit to Switzerland re
vealed no sure fire way of gettins
the holes into the cheese. So thu
cheese experts went back to theil
laboratories. From a first clas.
imported Swiss cheese they ex
tracted several thousand kinds o
bacteria, and each of these bugs
they put to the test to see which
one was the hole-maker. Differen
mediums had to be used, which
complicated matters, but finally
after IL years, the elusive bug wa
| located.
1t must not be inferred that tn
bugs mentioned eat their wa.
methodically through the cheese
leaving a train OF carefully arrang
ed holes. Gases are produced b.
the action Of certain bacteria il
the curds. and the holes result
from the liberation of the gas.
In Switzerland, where this par
ticular kind OF cheese has beef
made for so many years, the organ
isms which develop the best hole
and favor have become plentiful
Whether they originate in the air
milk, or grass is not thorough.
understood. In this country the,
must be supplied by cultures unit
1