CHAPTER XXVI 



THE MICROBE OF CHEESE 



MAKING cheese consists of three distinct parts. 

 First, separating the caseine, or the cheese part, 

 from the other parts of the milk. Second, press- 

 ing the cheese. Third, ripening the cheese. 



The first step, considered in itself alone, is purely 

 a chemical change. Microbes have nothing to do 

 with it. Chemical analysis of milk shows it is 

 composed of about eighty-seven per cent, of water, 

 four and seven-tenths per cent, of sugar, three and 

 six-tenths per cent, of butter, three and three- 

 tenths per cent, of caseine, seven-tenths of one per 

 cent, of albumen, the same amount of ash, and a 

 certain amount of free alkali. 



The chemical principle introduced to cause the 

 separation of the caseine from other parts of the 

 milk is rennet. This rennet is simply the stomach, 

 of the unweaned calf preserved and kept in its dry 

 form for this purpose. 



As soon as the milk comes from the cows, it is 

 placed in a tank and the rennet applied. The 

 chemical change takes place best with the milk at 

 a temperature of 110 degrees. A piece of rennet, 

 corresponding in size to the amount of milk, is 

 dissolved in warm water, and the solution poured 



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