SOFT CHEESES RIPENED BY MOLD 113 



mold (Mucor sp.). Ripening should proceed slowly and 

 occupy a period of six to eight weeks. 



140. Pennsylvania pot cheese. A form of " pot " 

 cheese is made in certain counties of Pennsylvania, prin- 

 cipally for local use. Production of this cheese on a fac- 

 tory basis is now being attempted. The steps in manu- 

 facture are about as follows : * (1) The home-made type of 

 cottage cheese curd is prepared, put into a crock or pot 

 and covered carefully; (2) kept in a warm place (in 

 kitchen usually) ; (3) stirred from time to time, until 

 it has ripened to a semi-liquid condition. This occurs 

 very rapidly under the attack of Oidium lactis accompanied 

 by bacteria. Within a period of three to seven days, 

 according to the temperature and to the water-content 

 of the mass, the granules of curd become covered with a 

 wrinkled gelatinous almost viscid mass of mold mycelium 

 beneath which is a layer of semi-liquid curd with a strong 

 characteristic odor and taste. This ripened or semi- 

 liquid part reaches about half the total mass in four or 

 five days at favorable temperatures. (4) The vessel 

 is then placed in a larger vessel of water and heated over 

 the fire with constant stirring until the whole mass is 

 melted and smooth. (5) Butter or cream, and salt or 

 other flavor is finally added, stirred in and the liquid cheese 

 poured into molds or jelly glasses to cool. If properly 

 made and cooked, the resultant cheese has a soft buttery 

 consistency with an agreeable flavor, which frequently 

 resembles that of Camembert cheese. 



1 The authors are under obligations to Mrs. E. E. Kiernan 

 for her description of this process (in the Somerset County 

 Leader, Jan. 10, 1908) and her letters concerning it. The 

 statement of the process given here combines the published 

 statement with the results of our own experiments. 



