SEMI-HARD CHEESES 163 



Stilton is, then, a soured curd cheese in whose ripening 

 a very prominent part is played by the green mold (usu- 

 ally some strain of P. Roqueforti) which grows throughout 

 the cavities of its mass. 1 At its best, it has attractive 

 texture and flavor. Much of it fails to reach high quality 

 on account of the invasion of bacteria, Oidium lactis,eind 

 very frequently myriads of cheese mites. The following 

 analysis was furnished as typical for ripe cheese by 

 Miles Benson, 2 late professor of dairying at Reading, 

 England : Water 31 per cent, fat 36 per cent, casein 

 29 per cent, mineral constituents including salt about 

 4 per cent. Approximately the same figures are given 

 by Primrose McConnell (Agricultural Note Book). The 

 low percentage of salt is another factor of uncertainty 

 in the control of this Stilton product, as in Gorgon- 

 zola, since these cheeses are commonly high in water- 

 content at first and are thus subject to invasion by 

 Oidium. 



Stilton has been made on a small scale in Canada 3 

 and occasionally attempted in the United States. No 

 serious effort to develop an industry of commercial im- 

 portance has been made in America. Comparative study 

 of the cheeses ripened by green mold tends to the con- 

 viction that the adaptation of the Roquefort practice to 

 the use of cow's milk offers a more satisfactory basis for 

 experiment than efforts to establish a Stilton or a Gorgon- 

 zola industry. 



1 Percival, J., and G. Heather Mason, The microflora of Stil- 

 ton cheese, Jour. Agr. Sci. 5 (1913), part 2, pages 222-229. See 

 also Thorn, C., Soft cheese studies in Europe, U. S. Dept. Agr. 

 Bur. An. Ind. Kept. 22 (1905), pages 79-109. 



2 Benson, Miles, in personal letter from analyses of cheeses 

 selected for the purpose. 



3 Dean, H. H., The Creamery Journal, Nov. 1904. 



