254 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



CHEESE PROBLEMS. 



JOHN MICHELS, B. S., A., INSTKUCTOK IX CHEESE AND BUTTER MAKING. 



Special Bulletin No. 21. 



I. Relation of Yield of Cheese to per cent of Fat in Milk. 



,"IL Paraffining Cheese. 



in. Cheddar vs. Stirred Curd. ^ ' 



IV. Cheese Ripening as Affected by Temperature and Moisture. 



V. Sage Cheese. 



VL Gassy Milk. 



SUMMARY. 



L — The measure of the value of milk for cheesemaking is the fat content. 

 'When normal milk is furnished the factory, .with fat content between three and 

 five per cent, the amount of cheese made per hundred of milk varies very nearly 

 with the per cent of fat. 



IL — Dipping cheese in hot paraffin for a moment, thus coating it with a thin, 

 impervious coat materially lessens shrinkage, prevents the formation of an undue 

 amount of rind and prevents molding. For best results the paraffin should be at 

 a temperature higher than it can lie carried using steam, hence a gasoline burner 

 is suggested. The best temperatures lie between 240° and 250° Fahr. The best 

 paraffin for this purpose has a melting point somewhere between 130° and 135° F. 



The amount of paraffin required for a cheese weighing 44 pounds is one quarter 

 of a pound. 



• Cheese should be treated within two to twelve hours after leaving the press. 

 The shrinkage is less than one quarter as great in paraffined cheese as in un- 

 treated lots. This means a minimum saving of $175.00 per season in a factory 

 with an average daily output of 400 pounds. 



IIL — More water can be incorporated in cheese when the curd mill is used 

 and the curd matted than by the stirred process but a water content of over 38 

 per cent is objectionable even in a quick curing cheese. 



• IV. — Cheese with a moderately high water content will cure better at 60° than 

 at 38°; but where the water content is excessively high or where the milk had a 

 bad flavor 38° is recommended as a ripening temperature rather than 60°. 



■ V. — The sage flavor is given to cheese either by adding sage tea or sage leaves 

 to the curd before salting. For the tea six ounces of sage are required per thou- 

 sand pounds of milk, while when the leaves are used but three ounces are required. 



I. RELATION OF THE YIELD OF CHEESE TO THE PER CENT OF FAT IN MILK. 



' It is the common practice in Michigan cheese factories to pay a fixed price per 

 hundred for milk regardless of its richness in fat. There would be nothing to 

 criticise or condemn in this method were it true that each hundred pounds of milk 

 made as much cheese as every other hundred pounds brought to the same factory. 

 If it were true that a given w^eight of three per cent milk yielded as much cheese 

 of as good quality as an equal weight of five per cent milk the farmer having a 

 herd of cows producing the richer milk would have no reason to complain. No 

 injustice would be done him. A host of careful experiments in New York, Wis- 

 consin and other states and in Canada have shown that the amount of cheese 

 made from milk is quite accurately measured by the amount of fat the milk con- 

 tains and that therefore the usefulness of the Babcock test in fixing the relative 

 values of milk is not confined to the creamery but should be extended to the 

 cheese factories as well. 



It is not the purpose of this bulletin to republish the results of work along this 

 line done elsewhere nor enter into a full discussion of the necessity of the Bab- 

 cock test in cheese factories if anything like justice is to be done to the patrons, 

 but simply to call attention to some work done at this station, the results of 

 which confirm the earlier conclusions. 



