Bacteria and Cheese Making. 187 



regulated with exactness; and hence, much of this type 

 of cheese is not of first quality, and must be sold for a 

 low price. "While such fancy cheeses, as Camembert, 

 bring fifty cents and upward per pound, and the yield 

 from the milk is much greater than with the hard type 

 of cheese, yet the difficulties of successful manufacture 

 are such as to make success less easily attained than with 

 the other types. 



There are many other kinds of soft cheese that depend 

 for their ripening upon factors similar to those con- 

 cerned in the ripening of Camembert ; most of them are, 

 however, of small importance from a commercial stand- 

 point. 



Limburger cheese. A very famous cheese is one 

 originally made in Germany to which the name Lim- 

 burger is given. It is classed as a soft cheese although 

 it is much firmer than Camembert. This cheese is made 

 from cow's milk and is pressed very lightly or not at 

 all, which condition accounts for its high per cent (50 

 per cent) of moisture. The surface is kept moist by re- 

 peated washing of the cheese, and by keeping the air of 

 the curing room very moist. 'A yellowish, slimy, bac- 

 terial layer soon develops on the surface under these 

 conditions. The enzymes produced by this external 

 growth gradually diffuse to the center of the cheese, 

 when it is regarded as ripe. The odor of the matured 

 product is somewhat putrefactive, but is not so offensive 

 as is usually supposed. 



Definite knowledge concerning the types of organisms 

 concerned in the surface layer is very limited. It is not 

 certain whether the same kinds of organisms must always 

 be present. Limburger is much easier to make than 

 Camembert, due possibly to the fact that there are not 



