No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 621 



CHAPTER IX. 



CURING CHEESE— QUALITIES OF CHEESE. 



The importance of care in managing cheese after it is made has 

 been seriously overlooked. Until quite recently, little attention 

 has been given to methods of cheese-curing in this country. The rule 

 has been and still is, in too many cases, to place the cheese in 

 some room in the factory that is provided with no means of con- 

 trolling temperature and moisture, where the variations in these 

 factors follow the conditions existing out of doors. It is now being 

 realized that the best-made cheese may be absolutely ruined for 

 market by lack of care during the curing process. The curing of 

 cheese is a part of the manufacturing process and must not be 

 slighted any more than any other important step. 



61. Changes Caused by Curiog Cheese. 



It is well known that cheese must have age before it is salable 

 for consumption. What takes place in cheese while it is acquiring 

 age, that is, while it is curing or ripening? Several different changes 

 occur, which we will brieflv notice. 



(1.) Loss of Moisture.— It is well known among cheese-makers 

 that cheese begins to lose weight immediately from the time it is 

 taken from press and placed upon the shelves of the curing room, 

 and this loss continues for a long time. The rapidity and extent 

 of loss of moisture in cheese during the process of curing vary with 

 several conditions, such as (a) the percentage of moisture originally 

 present in the cheese, (b) the texture of the clieese, (c) the size and 

 shape of the cheese, (d) the temperature of the curing room, and (e) 

 the proportion of water vapor present in the air of the curing room. 

 The more moist a cheese is when first made, the more rapidly it 

 loses moisture. Cheese with spongy texture loses moisture more 

 rapidly than does cheese with perfect texture. Large cheeses lose 

 moisture less rapidly in proportion to their weight thao smaller 

 cheeses. ''Flats" lose weight more rapidly than cheeses of the 

 same diameter and twice the height. The higher the temperature 

 of the curing room the greater the loss of moisture. The greater 

 the moisture in the air of the curing room the smaller is the loss 

 of weight. 



