Defects in American Cheddar Cheese. 353 



IT. Defects in Texture and Body. 



F. Dry Textures. 



Cheese that are too firm, mealy, rubbery or corky. 



Cause. 



Lack of moisture or butter fat or both, produced by 

 (i) Removing part of the butter fat from the milk. 



(2) Too high heating in the whey. 



(3) Heating too long. 



(4) Too much stirring at the time of removing the whey. 



(5) Using too much salt. 



(6) Curing cheese in an atmosphere that is too dry or too hot. 

 A "high cooked" cheese is rubbery or cork}'; one that has 



been stirred too dry is mealy or sandy ; and one dry from 

 excess of salt tastes salty. This is a convenient way of 

 determining the cause of such defects. 



How to prevent. 



(i) All the milk-fat should be retained in the cheese as far as 

 possible. 



(2) The lower the temperature used for heating and still have 



the curd firm enough, the better will be the texture of the 

 cheese. 



(3) Be absolutely sure of the correctness of thermometers. 



(4) Study the moisture content and the amount of stirring and 



salt required. 

 Remedy. 



(i) Pile dry curds higher. 



(2) Keep the air moist by placing hot water in the vat. 



(3) Do not mill dry curds early. 



(4) A dry curd can be made mellow by soaking in pure cold 



water after milling, but the cheese will not have a good 

 keeping quality. 



(6) Paraffine the cheese as soon as possible. 



(7) Ripen the cheese in a cool room where the atmosphere con- 



tains at least eighty per cent, moisture. 



G. Acid Textures. 



These may be either dry or moist, but in either case they are 



of a mealy or sandy character. They have a sour taste. 



Cause. 



(i) Ripening the milk too much before adding the rennet. 



(2) The development of too much acid during the manufacture 



especially before the whey is removed. 

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