BACTERIA IX CHEESE 



from the whey by draining and finally by squeezing, by various 

 processes, until it is reduced into a fairly hard pulp. It may 

 then be run through mills which grind it up into a very fine, 

 smooth mass. This product may be molded into cakes or short 

 cylinders and wrapped in tinfoil or paper, to be sold at once and 

 eaten fresh. This type of cheese has long been known in our 

 households as Dutch cheese, cottage cheese, Smearcase, etc. 

 Such cheeses seem to be easily digested. They are the result 

 of the action of bacteria upon the milk with no other agency 

 seemingly concerned, and are primarily due to the growth of the 

 lactic acid species. In recent years, our dairymen have devel- 

 oped a large market for two very similar cheeses, which they, 

 however, sell under the name of Ncufchatel, and Cream cheese. 

 These two cheeses, so abundant in our markets, are scarcely 

 any different from the old cottage cheese of our homes, except 

 that rennet is used 'to hasten the curdling, and the curd is after- 

 wards ground between rollers in a mill, which renders it smooth. 

 American Neufchatel cheese is, therefore, nothing more than a 

 sour curd, not ripened, and having no real cheese flavors ; a very 

 different product from a European Neufchatel cheese. This 

 product should not really be classed under the head of cheeses, 

 but as a sour milk curd. Sometimes such sour milk curds are 

 ripened into a real cheese (Harz cheese'), but this is not done 

 in America. 1 The ripening that occurs is similar to that of some 

 of the soft cheeses described below. 



THE RIPENING OF HARD CHEESES 



Hard cheeses are much more used in the United States than 

 any of the soft varieties. The most common kinds are the 

 American or Cheddar cheese, the Edam cheese, the Pineapple 

 cheese, and the Swiss cheese. In all of these cheeses the es- 

 sential feature of the manufacture is that after the milk has 



1 Eckles and Rahn. Cent. f. Bact., IT., xiv., p. 676, 1905. 

 Eckles and Rahn. Cent. f. Bact., II., xv., p. 726, 1906. 



