336 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF CHEESE-MAKING 



is, therefore, important to know something of the 

 relation of various specific conditions to the forma- 

 tion of those products which are used as a measure 

 of the rate and extent of cheese-ripening. 



Method of measuring rate of cheese-ripening. 

 The development of flavor and the changes in body 

 characteristic of ripening cheese may be used as 

 indications of the rate and extent of the ripening 

 process, but such a method is too crude for accu- 

 rate work. Up to the present time, the most sat- 

 isfactory method has been to determine the 

 amount of different products derived from the pro- 

 teins of the unripe cheese. From a chemical point 

 of view, in which we consider solely the chemical 

 changes occurring, without reference to their cause, 

 cheese-ripening consists mainly of a change of in- 

 soluble proteins into water-soluble forms that con- 

 sist of other and simpler protein-derived com- 

 pounds, a list of which is given above (p. 330). 

 Hence, in a ripening cheese, we have progressively 

 increasing amounts of proteins or protein-derived 

 substances, and decreasing amounts of insoluble 

 proteins. Therefore, as a measure of the rate and 

 extent of ripening in cheese, we ascertain the 

 amounts of water-soluble proteins and protein-de- 

 rived substances and, from these amounts, reach 

 conclusions as to the degree of ripening that has 

 taken place. In many cases, the determination of 

 the amounts of water-soluble and water-insoluble 

 substances alone is sufficient; while in others it is 

 necessary to know something in detail of the 

 amounts of each of the protein-derived constituents. 

 Stating the matter in a more comprehensive way, 



