188 Milk and Its Products. 
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 ease of such milk, 
the development of lactic acid is very rapid and the 
curds, technically deseribed, “work fast.” When this 
occurs, the production of lactic acid is more rapid 
than the shrinking of the curd, and the whey is 
sufficiently acid to be drawn off before the curd has 
shrunken down. In this case, the curd should be 
thoroughly and continually stirred after the whey 
is drawn until the whey has been well worked out 
before the curd is allowed to cheddar; but where 
it is known at the beginning of the process that 
the milk is over-ripe, care should be taken through- 
out the whole process to use every means to re- 
tard the formation of lactic acid, and at the same 
time to cause as rapid a shrinking of the curd as 
possible. To this end, the milk may be set at a 
lower temperature and a larger amount of rennet 
used, and when the curd is cut it should be stirred 
until the whey has well separated before the heat- 
ing process begins. With care in these particulars, 
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