SEMI-HARD CHEESES 159 



coated l with a mixture usually barite, tallow and lard 

 colored with annatto or other cheese color. This coating 

 prevents shrinkage or mold on the surface of the cheese in 

 transit. When cut these cheeses vary greatly. All show 

 marbling with mold (Roquefort mold). During their 

 ripening they become very slimy at the surface. To 

 open up air spaces for mold growth, this slime is scraped 

 off and holes are punched into the cheeses. These holes 

 are readily seen in the final product. Some show crumbly 

 texture, well distributed mold, as in Roquefort, with 

 flavor approaching that cheese; in others .the texture 

 is waxy rather than crumbly, a condition correlated 

 regularly with different character in the flavor. Fre- 

 quently in whole areas or in small pockets, slime consist- 

 ing of bacteria and Oidium has followed the openings 

 into the cheese and affects its odor and taste. 



Experimental Gorgonzola cheeses comparable with 

 the Italian product were made with cow's milk ripened 

 as for Roquefort or higher, to 0.25-0.30 per cent (titrated 

 as lactic acid), curdled at 86 F. (30 C.), cut into cubes 

 and slightly stirred, then dipped to a draining board for 

 about one-half hour, and put into the hoop. The cheeses 

 drained quickly to about 50 per cent water and developed 

 a surface rind as in the harder cheeses. Cut surfaces 

 showed a fairly open cheese in which mold grew readily. 

 These cheeses were salted to taste, not to a specified 

 percentage. They ripened with the same irregular 

 results and the characteristic range of flavors found in 

 Gorgonzola. To avoid the rotting of the cheese by sur- 



1 Frestadius, A., Nord. Mejeri Tid. 17 (1912), 14, page 159, 

 Abs. N. Y. Produce Rev. 34 (1912), 2, page 54, and Cutting, 

 W. B., The use of baritine in cheese rinds, Mo. Commerce and 

 Trade Repts. 1908, 337, page 144, also in Practical Dairyman, 2 

 (1908), 7, page 76. 



