RIPENING PROCESSES OF CHEESES 



143 



organisms 1 , but as yet he has not been able to adduce any evidence 

 as to the correctness of his theory. Rodella's 2 contention that 

 the specific-taste-producing bacteria are obligate anaerobic sparing 

 organisms can hardly be supported, for it has never been proved 

 that these bacteria reproduce themselves in rennet curd cheese 3 , 

 and when on rare occasion they have been found in large numbers, 

 a harmful action has also been observed. The interior of a hard 

 cheese should have a clean taste and smell, but putrefactive pro- 

 cesses in the rind cannot be avoided unless special precautions are 

 taken, and if the cheese becomes very old the interior may also 



become affected. An ordinary dairy cheese, not too poor in fat, 

 may even be made to acquire quite a piquant flavour in the course 

 of three to four months, if only certain changes are promoted in 

 the outer layer, as is done in the case of the " smeared " soft 

 cheeses. This method was at one time successfully applied by 

 Fru Hanne Nielsen. Certain hard cheeses, e.g., Tilsit cheese, have 

 a tendency to undergo similar changes spontaneously, and may 

 therefore be regarded as intermediate between the hard and the 

 smeared soft cheeses. On the other hand, those hard cheeses 

 which become permeated with moulds form a link between the 

 hard cheeses and the soft mouldy cheeses ; they will therefore be 

 dealt with before passing on to the soft cheeses. 



Cheeses like Stilton, Gorgonzola and Roquefort, which are per- 

 meated with moulds, resemble the other hard cheeses in their 

 mode of ripening, i.e., the process does not originate on the surface 

 and work inwards. The surface is kept as clean as possible, and 

 the cheeses are not made flat ; on the contrary, they are shaped 

 so as to expose a relatively small surface. In Stilton and Gorgon- 

 zola the moulds only develop slowly, as they owe their presence to 



1 " Mykologie der Milch," Leipzig, 1911, p. 223. 



2 " Centralblatt f. Bakt.," 2 Abt., 1903, Bd. X., pp. 499, 753; also 

 1906, Bd. XVI., p. 52. 



3 Burri and Kursteiner. " Landwirt. Jahrbuch der Schweiz," 1909, 

 p. 442. 



