248 THE FERMENTATION OF CHEESE 



mass is then sold (in Japan) under the name of natto. The nature of the 

 species of bacteria taking part in this fermentation has been studied by K. YABE(!.) 

 and 0. LOEW (IV.). 



In the preparation of the second kind of vegetable cheese, viz., Miso, recourse 

 is had to a substance known as Koji (described in vol. ii.), which is added to the 

 boiled bean pulp before allowing the latter to ferment. Full particulars 

 respecting the production of this and several other Japanese articles of diet 

 (e.g. Shojou prepared from soja beans) have been published by 0. KELLNER (II.) ; 

 and a few details of the last-named sauce, also highly appreciated in England 

 under the name of soy or shoyn, have been furnished by A. BELOHOUBEK (I.). 

 For the preparation of Tofu and Nukamiso reference should be made to two 

 treatises by M. INOUYE (I. and II.) ; and H. C. PRINSEN-GEERLIGS (I.) has 

 reported, inter alia, on the preparation (by the aid of fungoid ferments) of other 

 dishes from soja beans in Chinese cookery, such as Taohu or bean-cheese, the 

 sauce Tao-yu, &c. 



180. The Normal Pitting of Cheese. 



The ripening process does not always progress satisfactorily, but very often 

 results in a defective, or spoiled, inferior, or quite unsaleable product. Thus 

 E. vox FREUDENREICH (V.) reports that about 40 per cent, of Emmenthal cheeses 

 ripen imperfectly. The pecuniary loss accruing to cheese-makers from this 

 cause is estimated to amount, in Switzerland alone, to about a quarter of a 

 million of francs (=10,000) per annum. 



The defects here in question are of various kinds. L. ADAMETZ (III.), in 

 his comprehensive monograph on the subject, enumerates the following : 



(1) Defects caused by the unfavourable constitution of the milk employed. 



(2) Inflation ("blown cheese"). (3) Bitter cheese. (4) Discolorations. 

 (5) Poisonous cheese. Of these, the first named is beyond the scope of the 

 present work, the fourth has already been discussed in 89, 95, and 98, and 

 the fifth in 171. More frequent, however, than any of these is the malady 

 known as inflation, puffiness, or " blown " cheese (Fr. boursoiiflement ; Ger. 

 Bldheii), which will now be briefly mentioned. 



In addition to the constituents detailed in 144, the curd from sweet milk 

 contains a certain quantity of lactose. This is dissolved in the whey remaining 

 in the coagulum, and which cannot entirely be removed by pressing. Con- 

 sequently, sugar is always present, and is decomposed in various ways by the 

 organisms existing in the curd. Some of them, for example, form lactic acid ; 

 whilst others consume it and liberate an abundance of gas. This causes holes 

 (bubbles or eyes) in the mass of the ripening cheese, and these holes manifest 

 themselves as pittings in the cut suface of the ripe product. Both the dimensions 

 of these holes and the manner of their distribution throughout the mass are very 

 characteristically developed in individual classes of cheese. In order to render 

 this clear by examples, reference may be made to two main types, Emmenthal 

 cheese on the one hand, and Edam cheese on the other ; the former exhibiting 

 a few holes of large size, and the latter a greater number, but of small dimensions. 

 The appearance of small holes, regarded as indispensable in the said Dutch fatty 

 cheese, is looked upon as a defect in the Swiss cheese, which, if it contains many 

 holes of small size, is characterised as " Nissler," and considered as inferior. 

 Still, the other extreme of immoderately large cavities is also undesirable. This 

 last condition reveals itself, in the course of its development, by the bulging of 

 the surface of the ripening cheese, which, in particularly bad cases, is even split 

 open. This malady, known as inflation or puffiness, has already formed the 

 subject of several investigations, as a result of which both the cause of the 



