RIPENING OF CHEESE 



317 



The comparatively rapid loss of moisture during 

 the early stage of ripening is due to the fact that the 

 cheese contains its highest amount of moisture when 

 new. In addition, the bandage is practically saturated 

 with water, which quickly evaporates. Then, again, 

 the outer surface of the cheese, in drying, begins to 

 harden, the meshes of the cheese-cloth filling to some 

 extent with dried matter, and this condition tends con- 

 stantly more and more to diminish evaporation, pro- 

 vided cracking is prevented. 



Moisture in air of curing-room and loss of 

 weight. — The relative amount of moisture in air or, 

 more properly, the degree of saturation, exercises 

 a marked influence upon loss of water in cheese-ripen- 

 ing. To illustrate this influence, we give results of 

 an experiment in which two cheeses made from the 

 same milk were kept at 60° F. One cheese was kept 

 on a shelf in the ordinary manner, the air of the 

 room containing from 75 to 80 per cent of all the 

 moisture it could hold at 60° F. The other cheese 



LOSS OF MOISTURE IN CHEESE KEPT IN AIR COM- 

 PLETELY AND PARTIALLY SATURATED WITH MOISTURE 



