294 Milk and Its Products 
process is not completed at the time the cheese is 
marketed. An Edam cheese at three or four weeks 
old is of a tough, elastic texture and scarce any 
flavor. Six or eight months or more are required to 
break down the casein and develop the flavor as it is 
found in the perfect Edam cheese, and this ordinarily 
takes place while the cheeses are in the warehouse or 
in course of exportation. 
Gouda.—Gouda cheeses are made in South Holland 
by a process very similar to the manufacture of 
Edam. The whey is not so completely separated, .. 
and the resulting cheese is therefore softer. It is 
‘pressed in molds of a fiat, oval shape and about 
ten or twelve pounds weight, and is cured faster 
than Edam, so that at six weeks to two months 
old it is a cheese similar in flavor and texture to 
a well made Cheddar, although somewhat drier. 
Roquefort.—This is a soft or semi-soft cheese, 
made in France. In some respects it is the most fa- 
mous of all varieties of cheese. It is sometimes made 
from goats’ as well as cows’ milk, and it has peculiar 
characteristics imparted by specific fermentations that 
are brought about in the curing process. The curing 
is done in caves in limestone rock, where the air is 
uniform in temperature, and in order to bring about 
the desired fermentations the germs are added to the 
curd in the process of manufacture. These germs 
are often cultivated upon bread or similar substance, 
and this, crumbled up, is mingled with the curd 
in order to insure the proper fermentation in the 
cheese. Roquefort cheese, when well made and 
