482 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



in Cheddar cheese is largely determined by the process of curing. 

 There is still some doubt as to what is the agent which causes 

 the curing of cheese, and thus makes the curd partly soluble and 

 the body of the cheese rich and plastic. While the nature of the 

 agent or agents is still a matter of speculation rather than of exact 

 knowledge., the conditions under which the curing can be carried 

 on successfully are fairly well understood. So far as curing 

 develops the flavor of cheese, the agents in that change are doubt- 

 less minute forms of life known under the name of bacteria. The 

 temperature at which the cheeses are kept affects the action of 

 those minute forms of life, and through that determines in a 

 large measure the flavor, the body and the texture which are pro- 

 duced in them. 



Curing Affects Quaeity. 



A fairly steady temperature between 60° and 65° F., gives the 

 best results. At that temperature, loss in weight by the shrinkage 

 of the cheese ; is also considerably less than at higher points. A 

 dry atmosphere causes the cheese to lose in weight by the evapora- 

 tion of the moisture, and may also cause small checks or cracks 

 on the surface, particularly when the cheeses are new. The cur- 

 ing-rooms at the cheese factories in Canada are generally faulty 

 in construction; and it is very difficult, if not wholly impracti- 

 cable, to regulate the temperature in them at 65° or thereabouts. 

 Irregularity of temperature causes many of the faults com- 

 plained of by the cheese exporters and also by the receivers 

 of cheese in Great Britain. If the temperature goes down to or 

 below 50°, the cheese buyers complain of bitterness in the flavor. 

 If the temperature goes as high as 70° or over, the cheese buyers 

 complain of a heated flavor, or worse still, of a condition which 

 is called " off-flavored." 



Wrong Methods. 



The methods of managing the curing-room have been too much 

 after the following fashion: 



1. In the spring of the year a stove is used to heat the room; 

 too often it is not screened or placed in such a way as to cause 

 a circulation of air; the cheeses in the vicinity of the stove are 

 overheated, and those in the other parts of the room are left too 

 cold. 



