290 Milk and Its Products 



might be expected, the various localities have devel- 

 oped many varieties of this general type, in the same 

 way that the different forms of cheddar and allied 

 cheese have come to differ from one another. It ib 

 generally considered that the cheese known as Em- 

 menthaler is typical of the whole group of Swiss 

 cheeses. The Emmen thaler cheese is made in a 

 large copper kettle instead of a vat, and ordinarily the 

 curd made in one vessel is pressed as a single 

 cheese. After the curd has been coagulated with ren- 

 net, it 'is broken up in various ways into small pieces 

 as nearly uniform in size as possible, and then heated, 

 with careful stirring and attention, up to 135 or 

 140 F. After heating, the curd is allowed to sink 

 to the bottom of the vessel in a solid mass, and 

 while in this condition the bandage is slipped around 

 it and the whole mass of curd conveyed to the 

 hoops, where it is pressed. In the subsequent curing 

 the curd is usually salted from the outside of the 

 cheese as it is curing, and during the curing pro- 

 cess certain fermentations go on which produce large 

 holes in the cheese. These holes in perfect cheese 

 should be uniform in size and at equal distances from 

 one another. The casein itself breaks down into a 

 cheese of solid, uniform texture and characteristic fla- 

 vor. It has been asserted that the characteristic fla- 

 vors of the Swiss cheese are due to the character of 

 the Alpine pastures upon which the cows feed, but it 

 is altogether likely that the curing fermentations have 

 as much or more to do with developing these flavors, 

 Edam. The round Dutch cheeses, colored red, 



