266 Milk and Its Products 
described in Appendix A. Ordinarily these fermenta- 
tions do not work with the lactic fermentation ; each 
hinders tle action of the other so that the chief 
means of overcoming the difficulty of gas or pin-hole 
curds is to favor in every way possible the pro- 
duction of lactic acid. To this end the milk is 
well ripened before the rennet is added, and the 
heat is raised as rapidly as- possible to a higher 
temperature of cooking than ordinarily is used. In 
extreme cases the curds may be heated as high 
as 104° F. After the whey has been drawn great 
care is taken to keep the temperature of the curd 
from falling, and at the same time the escape of 
the gas is favored by frequent turning and piling 
of the curd. Where the curds are gassy the ched- 
daring process must be continued until the formation 
of gas has ceased and the holes in the curd have 
collapsed. In extreme cases, where the’ gassy curds 
have produced very strong, undesirable flavors; these 
may be removed by drenching with hot water. The 
means used to prevent the development of gas, and 
to get rid of the gas already formed, ordinarily favor 
the escape of fat from the cheese, so that while the 
bad effects of the gassy curd may be largely elimi- 
nated from the finished cheese, still it is always done 
at the expense of a certain loss of fat. 
Another difficulty that often confronts the cheese- 
maker is that coming from the milk arriving in too 
ripe a condition, not necessarily accompanied by un- 
desirable fermentations. In the case of such milk, 
the development of lactic acid is very rapid and the 
