CHEESE MAKIITG. 361 



be putrefaction if the clieese were kept long enough. 

 To prevent this result salt is used. The effect of salt is 

 to arrest the progress of acidity — which is preliminary 

 to the more complete decomposition ending in putrefac- 

 tive fermentation — and to flavor the cheese and make 

 it palatable. The salt is added to the curds when they 

 are cool, and this practice is universally considered as 

 requisite to the securing of a fine delicate flavor. The 

 antiseptic effect of salt necessarily affects the process of 

 ripening, hence when rapid ripening is desired the least 

 quantity of salt or about two per cent of the green curd 

 is used, and when a slower curing is wished for as much 

 as two and a half or three pounds per 100 are used. Only 

 the very purest and finest salt should be used, and to 

 get its best effect it should be ground very fine. 



Temperature, as has been stated in previous chapters, 

 is a most energetic chemical agent, and has consequently 

 an important effect on the ripening or curing process, 

 and this agency is the most critical part of the treat- 

 ment to which the class of cheeses noted for their high 

 flavor is subjected. The size of the cheese, too, necessar- 

 ily becomes a serious element in this regard, for a long 

 time will be required to affect the whole mass of a large 

 cheese, while a small one may be brought under the in- 

 fluence of heat or cold in a few hours. The warmth of 

 the curing-room, the steadiness of the temperature, the 

 freshness and purity of its atmosphere, the periods 

 of turning the cheeses, the greasing of the surface for 

 the purpose of excluding air, all these circumstances 

 have an important chemical effect upon the condition of 

 the cheese. 



A comparatively high temperature produces rapid 

 ripening, while a low temperature so controls the chem- 

 ical changes which go on in the cheese, and Avhich are 

 due to the peculiar character of the caseine, as to cause 

 a long period to elapse before the ripening is completed. 



