40 Report of the Bacteriologist of the 



It did not form an enzjin capable of producing a visible change 

 in the consistency of the milk and when grown in pure culture 

 no bitter flavor was produced even when kept for some weeks. 

 The formation of bitter flavor by this organism seems to be in- 

 timately associated with the exposure of the curd to the air; since^ 

 under any of the conditions that were tried, the bitter flavor 

 appeared slightly or not at all when a soft, poorly-drained curd 

 was prepared; while in a dry, friable curd the bitterness was 

 very evident. Although it was grown almost continually in 

 milk the organism lost the power of producing bitter flavor after 

 about six months and further experiments were necessarily dis- 

 continued. 



In this particular instance of the bitter cheese the trouble 

 having been found to arise not from the factory but upon the 

 farm it would have been of considerable interest to locate more 

 closely the source from which these germs gained access to the 

 milk. However on being informed of the results of our work 

 the producer became highly incensed at the idea that there could 

 be anything amiss with his milk and the investigation was not 

 carried any further. As a result we could not aid him by sug- 

 gesting practical means of ridding himself of the trouble nor 

 have we the data upon which to advise others. 



III. SWEET FLAVOR IN CHEDDAR CHEESE. 



WHAT IS MEANT BY SWEET FLAVOR. 



As was intimated in the introductory chapter on flavor tlLere 

 is a class of off-flavors which appears especially during the 

 spring and fall in the output of many of the factories in this 

 State and bears the general title of " sweet flavor." 



A conservative estimate places the annual loss from this 

 source at |10,000. 



Vrhen cheese experts are questioned concerning the matter 

 they usually agree in dividing this trouble into at least two 

 class(!S — '' fruity " and " sweet " — while in individual instances 

 many other terms are used. When samples are selected and 



