PREPARATION OF ROQUEFORT CHEESE IN FRANCE. 263 



has its froth first removed, and is allowed to stand for three-quarters 

 of an hour, when it is heated in a galvanized copper vessel almost to 

 boiling, cooled down, and kept overnight in glazed clay bowls. On the 

 following morning the cream is removed in order to be subsequently 

 churned, and the morning milk is added to the skim-milk, and thickened 

 at 33 to 35 C. with rennet. The curd is carefully broken up and the whey 

 removed. Each piece of the curd is pressed carefully in order to remove 

 as much of the whey as possible, and placed in cylindrical moulds made out 

 of strongly burnt glazed clay, which are 21 cms. broad and 9 cms. deep, 

 and in the bottom of which there are round holes *5 to *6 cm. broad. This is 

 done in such a manner that the curd is placed in the moulds in three 

 equally thick layers, between every two of which a layer of firmly baked 

 cake of powdered mouldy bread is placed. This is most suitably made 

 out of equal parts of wheat and barley-meal, with the addition of sour 

 paste and strong vinegar. For every 100 parts of paste there should be 

 4 to 4'5 parts sour paste and "05 parts of vinegar. The fresh baked bread 

 is allowed to become mouldy, and the mouldy crumbs, cut off it and 

 ground in a hand-mill, are pressed through a sieve. In this way, by add- 

 ing this powder to the curd, the spores of the moulds are conveyed into 

 it, and under their action the ripening process of the cheese is effected. 

 Boards are laid upon the raised surface of the curd mass in the mould. 

 These are at first slightly weighted, subsequently more heavily, and then 

 pressed from 10 to 12 hours in this way, the cheese being repeatedly 

 turned. After the pressing operation has been finished, the cheese is 

 removed from the mould, and allowed to lie for 10 to 12 days wrapped 

 up in cloth. They are turned twice a day, the cloth being often renewed, 

 and finally, after the cloth has been taken off, drying is promoted by a 

 dry current of air. The cheeses are then brought carefully from the 

 drying-room during the night-time into the rocky caves, each of which is 

 divided into three compartments the so-called grotto (la cave) in which 

 the cheese is allowed to ripen, the salting-room (le saloire), and the weigh- 

 ing-room (le poids). The two last mentioned rooms are situated above 

 the grotto. After the damaged cheeses have been separated out in the 

 weighing-room, which also serves as a receiving-room, the other cheeses are 

 laid upon a straw-covered floor. They are allowed to stand for 12 hours, 

 from morning till evening, and are then brought into the salting-room. 

 Here the cheeses are strewn with fine salt on the one side. They are placed 

 three deep, and turned after 24 hours, when they are salted on the other 

 side and again piled up as before. After the lapse of 48 hours the salt 

 is nibbed into the cheese on all sides with a coarse linen cloth, and the 

 cheeses are then left again, piled three deep, for another three days. At 

 the end of this time they are brought back into the weighing - room, 



