COMPOSITION OF CHEESE. 

 TABLE XII. 



171 



No. 1 represents a skimmed milk cheese: it will be 

 seen that the proportion of butter is very much small 

 er than in Nos. 2, 3, and 4; it is, however, weight for 

 weight, more nutritious than any of the others. It 

 will surprise most persons, to know that cheese con 

 tains from J to J its weight of water; and that in eat 

 ing very rich cheeses, fully J of what they eat is 

 butter. No. 4 is a rich Ayrshire cheese, of the kind 

 with which some of our American dairies come espe 

 cially into competition. This was a particularly fine 

 sample. Cheese, judging from the above analyses, 

 is both a very nutritious and a very fattening food. 

 The richness of the finer varieties, prevents their being 

 eaten in large quantities. On skim milk cheese, such 

 as that in the first column, a man might live very 

 well as a principal article of diet. 



It will be noticed that all of these cheeses contain 

 a considerable proportion of ash: this ash is more 

 than half phosphates, chiefly phosphate of lime; of the 

 remainder a large part, as might be supposed, is com 

 mon salt, that has been added to the cheese in curing. 

 In various districts there are different ways of intro 

 ducing the salt. In some cases it is all put in before 

 the cheese is pressed; in others it is all absorbed from 

 the exterior, after the cheese is made. This will not 

 do for very thick cheeses. In making these, a portion 

 of the curd is sometimes doubly salted, and placed in 

 the centre; the intention being to ensure that the salt 

 absorbed from the exterior shall penetrate till it meets 



