420 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



there as nearly right as may be and then keep it there with the 

 least possible loss. 



The actual amount of water that cheese should contain hardly 

 lies within the province of my subject, but it may be of interest 

 to state that in cheese-factory work in New York, the moisture 

 in the green cheese usually amounts to 36 to 37^ per cent, in the 

 regular cheddar cheese. For export purposes a somewhat smaller 

 amount of moisture is retained. For home trade, cheese made in 

 the fall, the moisture more often lies 'between 38 and 40 per cent. 

 It is safe to say that for our average American cheese-eater a 

 moisture content of not less than 33 to 35 per cent, at the time of 

 consumption is desirable. 



From the dairyman's standpoint, it is desirable to sell as much 

 water in cheese as will suit the consumer. Taking everything into 

 consideration, I believe better results will be secured in quality by 

 holding less moisture in the green cheese and curing it so that it 

 will lose only a small amount of water, rather than by holding a 

 larger amount of moisture in the green cheese and so curing that a 

 larger amount of moisture is lost. 



2. The more completely a cheese dries out, the harder is thf 

 rind and the greater the loss to the consumer. Most people plan 

 to throw away a rather thick rind. In a carefully-cured cheese 

 the rind is comparatively moist and only a very thin portion need 

 be lost, and even this can be used in cooking. 



3. In preventing excessive loss of moisture, we have more water 

 to sell at cheese prices. I have made inquiries among some of our 

 New York factorymen as to their losses of weight in cheese-curing. 

 One of the most complete records, covering an entire season, made 

 by a cheesemaker and factory-owner who has probably better than 

 average conditions for curing-rooms, made the average loss of 

 weight during thirty days amount to about five pounds per hun- 

 dred pounds of cheese. Some factories try to get rid of their 

 cheese at three weeks, to escape some of this loss. 



Consulting our table of moisture loss, we find that the loss could 

 easily be reduced one-third or more, and there could be for every 

 hundred pounds of cheese one and one-half or two pounds of water 

 to sell at cheese prices, meaning about 15 cents more per hundred 

 pounds of cheese. This gain may seem slight, but it means $1.50 

 for every ten thousand pounds of milk, and for a fair-sized factory 

 it would mean several hundred dollars a season. 



4. In making small cheeses, like Young Americas, the proportion 

 of loss is much greater, and hence the demand is still more ini- 



