CHAPTER XIII. 



MAKING AND MARKETING COTTAGE CHEESE. 

 (Also called curd cheese, smear kase, Dutch cheese, etc.) 



In making cottage cheese the first and most important 

 essential is good flavor. Next in importance is uniformity 

 of product. Both of these essentials can be obtained with 

 certainty only by the use of pure cultures of lactic acid 

 bacteria in souring the skim-milk. 



The natural souring of milk is due to lactic acid bac- 

 teria. Milk always contains these souring organisms, but 

 as a rule, there are present also various other types which 

 produce undesirable flavors. To suppress the undesirable 

 types it is necessary to reinforce the I'actic acid organ- 

 isms by adding large quantities of them in pure form, 

 that is, unmixed with other classes of bacteria. In com- 

 mon parlance such pure cultures of lactic acid bacteria 

 are known as "starters." 



METHOD OF USING PURE CULTURES. 



The original cultures containing the lactic acid, bacteria 

 are prepared commercially and small samples, either 

 in dry or liquid form, can be obtained from the manu- 

 facturers at about 75 cents per bottle. The bottle thus 

 obtained is emptied into a quart of pasteurised skim-milk, 

 that is, skim-milk which has been kept at a temperature 

 of about 160" F. for 30 minutes and is then quickly cooled 

 to about 70° F. As soon as the quart of skim-milk has 



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