Year: 1879

The Foreign Article Driven Out by an


American Imitation.


One of the most marked successes of
our versatile dairymen (says the Boston
Commercial Bullctin) has been the pro-
duction of Il variety of Limburger
cheese, that is said to be a decided i'm
provemcnt upon the original, and which
has driven. the imported article almost
entirely out of the market. Thousands
of tons of Limburger are now produced
every season-mOstly in the States of
New York and Wisconsin-at cost of
half the imported article. 1t finds its
market and Is consumed mostly by our
German and American population. 1t
is more profitable to the farmer and
maker than any other kind of cheese
first because from given quantity of
milk more weight is obtained, owing to
the mode of making and curing; also
because the price it brings is usually
from 10 to 40 per cent. higher than that
obtained for the standard American
cheese. In neighborhoods where its
manufacture has been commenced it
usually spreads to the exclusion
of other kinds. Even the fastidi-
Gus but shrewd Yankee, with
his everlasting eye to the main
chance, has found that the odor, so ex
ecrable at first, smells somehow of
greenbacks. The cheese is made in fac
tories capable of working the milk from
100 to 400 cows, rarely exceeding the
latter number, as more would require a
larger area of country than would be de-
sirable, on account of the distance to
the factory, as the milk is hauled and
cheese made twice Il day usually. The
makers generally buy the milk from the
farmer ut n price agreed upon for the
season for six months, beginning about
May /. The process of manufacture in
its first stages does not differ from the
usual way, except that a lower tempera-
ture is kept while the curd is forming,
the animal heat alone in summer being
often high enough. Great care is taken
to use pure milk, free from taint or filth,
and cleanliness is requisite in every stage
of the making. Upon the curd being
formed it is slowly and carefully cut in
to squares, pieces the size of dice, low
temperature and careful handling being
necessary to avoid breaking the butter
globules, upon which the richness of the
cheese depends. 1t is slightly scalded
and stirred, most of the whey drawn off,
and, without being salted, the curd is
dipped out into perforated wooden boxes
or molds, about five inches square, and
left to drain without any pressure being
applied. In few hours the packages
are carried into the curing cellar, and
placed edgeways on shelves, like bricks
set to dry. Every day thereafter they
are rolled in salt, and replaced when
they have absorbed enough salt. They
are turned almost every day, and the
Shiny moisture which exudes is rubbed
with the hand evenly over the surface,
which serves the double purpose of keep
ing the cheese moist and to close all
cracks, into which flies might lay their
eggs. This outside moisture decomposes
while the cheese ripens, and being most
ly composed of albumen, like fresh
meats, eggs, etc., the same results fol-
low the decomposition, and in this case
the Limburger odor is developed, which
never forsakes it, and sticks closer than
n brother to all who touch or eat it.
After eight to ten weeks it is packed in
paper and tinfoil, and is ready for mar
keith consistence, contents and nour-
ishment the richest cheese that can be
made, but, to the uninitiated, Il mali
cious and premeditated outrage upon
the organs of smell.