90 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF CHEESE-MAKING 



because the salt slowly permeates the cheese in the 

 ripening- process. Little variations usually occur in 

 different parts of the same cheese, but are so slight 

 as to be incapable of being noticed by ordinary 

 methods of examination. 



Testing cheese for salt. — The quality of cheese 

 as influenced by the salt is found simply by 

 tasting. 



Terms used in describing salt. — In describing 

 the relation of salt to cheese, the following terms 

 are used: (i) Perfect, (2) too much, (3) too 

 little. 



(i) Perfect applies to salt in cheese when just 

 enough has been used to impart a sufficient taste 

 of salt. 



(2) Too much salt is indicated by salty taste. Too 

 much salt in cheese causes a dry, mealy, overfirm body 

 and imperfect flavor. 



(3) Too little salt is shown by insipidity of taste. 

 It is usually accompanied by bitter flavor and porous 

 texture. 



Appearance. — This term refers to the general 

 appearance of the cheese to the eye in respect to 

 uniformity, neatness and cleanliness. It may also 

 include the boxing. One system, as in the case of 

 butter, describes under "finish" the appearance of the 

 cheese, and under ''packages" the boxing; and we 

 will follow this method here. 



Testing appearance. — When the cover of the box 

 is removed for sampling, in the case of boxed 

 cheese, the appearance of the cheese is noticed and 

 the box itself is examined. Cleanliness and neat- 



