COLOR OP EDAM CHEESE. 353 



the cheese is to be sold, it is properly washed still again 

 in hot whey, and rubbed with a woolen cloth a day 

 before sending to market, with hot or cold linseed-oil, 

 by which the outside of the cheese gets a fine glow ; 

 but it must be rubbed till no fat or oil is to be felt. 



The Red Color of Edam Cheese. — After the dairy- 

 man has sold his cheese to the merchant, it is colored 

 by him quite red. It will not be uninteresting to many 

 readers to know some of the details of this peculiar 

 color. 



Edam cheese is colored with what is called tournesol, 

 which is extracted from a plant ( Croton tindorium). 

 This is an annual, which grows wild in France, in great 

 abundance, in the vicinity of Montpelier, in Langue- 

 doc ; and around Aix, in Provence, large commons are 

 sown with it. The seed is sown in March and April. 

 From a white and straight tap root, it sends up a stalk 

 something like six inches high, which divides into many 

 branches. The leaves have very long stems, of a pale 

 green color. The flower-stalks spring up from between 

 the branches, and bear flowers in fan-shaped clusters. 

 The vegetation of the plant continues four months. 



The preparation of the tournesol is as follows : The 

 plants are collected late in summer, the roots thrown 

 away, and the other parts taken to a mill, where they 

 are ground, and the juice pressed out. Into this juice 

 the rags of old hempen cloth are dipped till they 

 are soaked full, when they are hung up to dry in the 

 sun. When they are dry they are laid on a tray over 

 a tub filled with urine, in which carbonate of lime has 

 been dissolved, so that the edges hang over the rim of 

 the tub on which they rest. The vapor from the solu- 

 tion of lime must penetrate the rags, and this gives 

 them a violet color, when they are taken off and dried 

 again, to be replaced till they are fully colored. 

 30* 23 



