CHEESE 309 



it a finer flavor, we do not always content ourselves 

 with using milk in its natural state; to the cream 

 that it naturally contains we often add some more 

 from milk skimmed expressly for the purpose. 

 The cheeses thus enriched with fatty matter are the 

 most delicate of all. Again, we occasionally adopt 

 a middle course, using neither natural milk nor en- 

 tirely creamless milk, but of two equal parts of milk 

 we keep one just as it is and skim the other, mixing 

 them together afterward. 



"By adding or withdrawing, in varying quantities, 

 this fatty constituent of the milk, we obtain as many 

 different varieties of cheese. If also we bear in 

 mind that sheep's milk has not exactly the same 

 properties as goats' milk, nor goats' milk the same 

 properties as cows' milk; if we remember, further, 

 that the same animal's milk varies according to the 

 nature of its feed and the care given to the herd ; and 

 if, finally, we take into account the different methods 

 of manufacture, of one sort in one place, of another 

 sort somewhere else, we shall understand how nu- 

 merous may be and in fact are the various kinds of 

 cheese." 



"For my part," Jules interposed, "I know at 

 least half a dozen kinds. There is Eoquefort, a 

 pasty cheese streaked with blue and of a sharp 

 flavor; Gruyere, riddled with large round holes and 

 yellowish in color, and clear like quartz ; Auvergne, 

 as large as a big millstone and not very delicate in 

 flavor ; Brie, in thin, wide cakes that sweat a kind of 

 ill-smelling cream; Mont d'Or, packed with a little 



