Curing. 193 



lower than 78° F., a slight amount of pressure 

 will cause the particles to unite in a smooth and 

 solid mass. The pressure should be uniform and 

 continuous for at least twenty hours. Where a 

 screw press is used, care must be taken to tighten 

 the screws as rapidly as they become loose, partic- 

 ularly for the first hour after the cheese is put in 

 the press. Those presses that are fitted with ap- 

 pliances for taking up the slack and making the 

 pressure continuous show excellent results in the 

 texture of the cheese. After the cheese has been 

 in the press for three -fourths of an hour it should 

 be taken out, turned, the bandage straightened, and 

 the whole cheese wij)ed with a cloth wrung out of 

 water as hot as can be borne by the hand. This 

 warming of the surface aids in the formation of a 

 firm, transparent rind, and it improves the appear- 

 ance of the cured cheese. Seamless bandage is 

 practically the only kind now used, and it should 

 be cut of such a length that it will extend over 

 each end of the cheese for an inch and a half or 

 two inches ; when the cheese is put in the press, 

 circular cap cloths should be put between the ends 

 of the cheese and the follower. These cap cloths are 

 allowed to remain upon the cheese after it is taken 

 from the press and while it is curing, and are re- 

 moved just before the cheese is boxed for market. 



Period VII., curing. — The green cheese, when 

 taken from the press, if exposed to a temperature 

 of about 70° in a pure atmosphere, undergoes a 

 series of fermentations which result in breaking 



