FANCY CHEESES 383 



should be carried out more slowly. After the forms have been 

 filled the cheeses are allowed to stand without turning until the 

 next morning. This is because the successive dipperfuls of 

 uncut curd do not stick together readily at first and must be 

 given more time. 



While turning the cheese the next morning they are to be inoc- 

 ulated. They must then be left until the following morning, 

 by which time they are ready to be salted. After salting they 

 remain another day in the making room, making three days 

 all together, instead of two as in the case of the cut-curd cheese. 



In France the cheeses are always made of uncut curd, but no 

 reason has ever been given for the practice, so far as the writer 

 knows. In a series of experiments where cheeses were made of 

 the same milk with cut as well as uncut curd for comparison, 

 we found that in almost every case the uncut-curd cheese, even 

 when fully ripe, did not decompose as quickly as the cut-curd 

 cheese. Other advantages are that more cheese is produced 

 from the uncut curd from the same amount of milk, and the 

 loss of fat in the whey is not so great. 

 The use of the low forms. 



Both cut and uncut curd cheeses should be hard enough to 

 bear handling at the time of salting, but often they are not yet 

 hard enough to retain their shape. In such cases they should 

 be put at the time of salting into the low forms, where they 

 remain until the next morning. When they can hold their 

 shape without the aid of the forms, they are taken to the ripen- 

 ing room. 



Ripening the cheese 



The cheeses are removed to the first ripening room. Here 

 they are placed on smooth boards upon shelves. The boards 

 are of the same size as the draining boards, but have a smooth 

 surface. The cheeses remain on these boards during the whole 

 ripening period. Cane bottoms are frequently used and are 



