286 THE BOOK OF CHEESE 



disadvantage of cutting eye-development short by the 

 rapid entrance of salt. 



The curing consists of the developing of the flavor and 

 eyes and the changing in body and texture. Just what 

 causes these changes is not known. 



273. Shipment. When ready for shipment, the drum 

 cheeses of the same general diameter are sorted out and 

 packed four to six in a cask. Care must be taken to put 

 boards between them to prevent sticking. These are 

 called scale-boards, and are made of thin sections of wood 

 fiber. The cheeses are crowded into the cask to make a 

 snug fit, and the head carefully fastened. 



274. Qualities of Swiss cheese. The peculiar Swiss 

 cheese flavor may be characterized as a hazel-nut taste. 

 It is a trifle sweet and very tempting. The " eyes " or 

 holes should be about the size of a cherry with a dull 

 shine to the inner lining. The " eyes " usually contain 

 a small amount of a briny tasting liquid. These 

 eyes should be uniformly distributed. The color should 

 be uniform. The cheese should have a neat, clean, 

 attractive appearance, and the rind should not be 

 cracked or broken. 



There are several common defects in Swiss cheese. 

 If the milk is not clean-flavored, the cheese will have 

 the same flavor as the milk. The greatest difficulty is 

 to produce the eyes or holes. A cheese which does 

 not have these is called " blind." A product which has 

 many small pin-holes due to gassy fermentations is 

 called a " niszler " ; this means a cheese with a thousand 

 eyes. If gas forms in the cheese and causes cracks, it 

 is called " glaesler." If the cheese contains too much 

 moisture, it will be soft and pasty. Such a cheese does 

 not readily form eyes. 



