148 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



MICKOBES IN CHEESE-MAKING. 



By Professor H. VV. CONN, 



WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 



CHEMISTS tell us that cheese is one of the most nutritious and, at 

 the same time, one of the cheapest of foods. Its nutritive value 

 is greater than meat, while its cost is much less. But this chem- 

 ical aspect of the matter does not express the real value of the cheese 

 as a food. Cheese is eaten, not because of its nutritive value as ex- 

 pressed by the amount of proteids, fats and carbohydrates that it con- 

 tains, but always because of its flavor. Now, physiologists do not find 

 that flavor has any food value. They teach over and over again that 

 our foodstuffs are proteids, fats and carbohydrates, and that as food 

 flavor plays absolutely no part. But, at the same time, they tell us that 

 the body would be unable to live upon these foodstuffs were it not 

 for the flavors. If one were compelled to eat pure food without flavors, 

 like the pure white of an egg, it is doubtful whether one could, for 

 a week at a time, consume a sufficiency of food to supply his bodily 

 needs. Flavor is as necessary as nutriment. It gives a zest to the 

 food, and thus enables us to consume it properly, and, secondly, it 

 stimulates the glands to secrete, so that the foods may be satisfactorily 

 digested and assimilated. The whole art of cooking, the great develop- 

 ment of flavoring products, the high prices paid for special foods like 

 lobsters and oysters — these and numerous other factors connected with 

 food supply and production are based solely upon this demand for 

 flavor. Flavor is a necessity, but it is not particularly important what 

 the flavor may be. This is shown by the fact that different peoples 

 have such different tastes in this respect. The garlic of the Italian 

 and the red pepper of the Mexican serve the same purpose as the 

 vanilla which we put in our ice-cream; and all play the part of giving 

 a relish to the food and stimulating the digestive organs to proper 

 activity. 



The primary value of cheeses is, then, in the flavors they possess. 

 One can hardly realize the added pleasure they give to the life of hun- 

 dreds of thousands of poor people whose food must be of the coarsest 

 character. A bit of well-flavored cheese adds relish to the humblest 

 meal and gives the highest delight. We must recognize, then, 

 that the chief value of the cheese lies exactly in these flavors 

 which the chemist does not include in his analysis of cheese and which 

 the physiologist refuses to call food or to regard as having any nutritive 



