Temperature in Relation to Cheese-Ripening. 415 



chloric, in order to remove mineral matter that accumulates and 

 interferes with the capillary action. In most of the rooms we 

 have thus far kept the moisture as nearly as possible at 75 per 

 cent, of saturation, though variations of 10 per cent, are apt 

 to occur at times. The moisture is of course more easily managed 

 at the lower temperatures. In the rooms held at temperatures of 

 65 and 70° F., it required about four yard-wide pieces of felt to 

 keep the moisture near the point desired. Most of our work thus 

 far has been confined to studying cheese at different temperatures 

 with uniform moisture. 



The changes in composition of cheese which take place in curing 

 under ordinary favorable conditions are for the most part of two 

 kinds: First, loss of moisture, and second, changes in casein, 

 resulting in the formation of soluble nitrogen compounds from 

 insoluble casein. 



It has been fairly shown that fat in cheese changes chemically 

 but little, if any, during normal cheese-ripening. 



Loss of Moisture in Cheese-Ripening. 



The loss of weight in cheese during the process of curing under 

 proper conditions may be regarded, for practical purposes, to be 

 due entirely to the evaporation of water from the cheese. Of 

 course the mechanical loss of fat by exudation from cheese when 

 the temperature is allowed to go too high must be considered, and 

 in a serious way, but we are assuming that such a condition ought 

 not to be allowed to happen, and it will not with a proper control 

 of temperature. The small amount of loss due to formation and 

 escape of carbon dioxide or other gases from cheese can be neg- 

 lected for the purpose we have in view. 



A gentleman who ought to have known better made the assertion 

 in a signed article that water in cheese was very different from 

 other water. It was a case of knowing for certain something that 

 isn't so. Water, whether in milk, or butter, or cheese, however 

 much its presence may be disguised, is the same kind of water as 

 that with which we are familiar everywhere. It is just plain, 

 everyday, common water, and possesses no characteristics to dis- 

 tinguish it from the water we drink and handle, aside from pos- 

 sible impurities in the latter. 



The rapidity and extent of loss of water in cheese-curing vary 

 with several conditions, chief of which are the following : 



1. The amount of water originally present in the cheese. 



