JNIVERS* 





RULES AND REASONS FOR FARM CARE OF MILK. 103 



with the development of gas are likewise attributable to the same cause. 

 If the difficulty appears before the milk is set, the milk is said to be 

 "gassy." Often it is delayed until the cooking process, when the curds 

 rise to the surface of the whey and float on account of the development 

 of the imprisoned gas. Such curds are known as "floaters" or "bloat- 

 ers." A less pronounced fermentation results in the production of " pin- 

 holes" in the curd. The appearance of gas may even be delayed until 

 the cheese is taken from the press. If it occurs at this stage, the cheese is 

 said to "huff" or swell and the texture in severe cases is practically de- 

 stroyed. All of these appearances whether they occur in the milk, in 

 the curd, or in the green cheese are to be traced back to a faulty condi- 

 tion in the milk. In the majority of instances this originates on the farm 



FIG. 8. A block (Swiss) cheese made from "gassy" milk. This is the most common trouble 

 noted in the Swiss cheese industry. 



through careless methods of handling. The rapidity of its development 

 in the factory can be controlled in part by the cheesemaker, but it is diffi- 

 cult, if not impossible, to make a superior article out of inferior raw mate- 

 rials. Unless the factoryman is furnished with a clean, pure, wholesome 

 milk free from noxious germs that are able to cause these abnormal fer- 

 mentations, he cannot be expected to make a superior product. 



SWEET CURDLING AND DIGESTING FERMENTATIONS IN MILK. 



Quite often the milk producer finds that his milk lobbers or curdles 

 quickly without the production of appreciable amounts of acid. This 

 premature curdling is an abnormal fermentation in which the following 

 series of changes occur in the character of the milk. The casein is not 

 precipitated on account of the development of lactic acid but by the action 

 of certain unorganized ferments (enzymes) that are secreted by various 

 species of bacteria. The action of these non-vital ferments is quite similar 

 to that of ordinary rennet; in fact, rennet as well as pepsin, are examples 



