58 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF CHEESE-MAKING 



normal-milk cheese. The process is simply this: 

 When the curd has matured ready for salting, it is 

 covered with cold water and allowed to soak 10 to 

 15 minutes. In this way the amount of water in 

 100 pounds of cheese can be increased ordinarily 

 4 or 5 pounds, producing a cheese with 41 to 44 

 per cent of water. The soaking of curd by this 



FIG. 9 



Showing the effect of excessive moisture in a soaked-curd cheese upon the 

 body. The cheese with normal moisture keeps its shape perfectly. The soaked- 

 curd cheese bulges at the sides and flattens down if kept at temperatures 65 or 70 

 degrees F. 



process not only increases the yield of cheese by 

 the incorporation of water other than what was a 

 part of the original milk from which the cheese was 

 made, but it also dissolves from the curd (i) milk- 

 sugar; and (2) the soluble calcium salts, especially 

 acid calcium phosphate. These normal cheese con- 

 stituents, which are thus removed from the curd, 

 are essential to the normal ripening process of the 



