PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 



" What a Man Eats He Is." 



Edited by C. F. Langworthy, Ph.D. 



Author of " On Citraconic, Itaconic and Mesaconic Acids," " Fish as Food,'' etc. 



CHEESE IN SMALL SIZES. 



As chemical analysis and the experience 

 of users show, cheese is one of the most 

 wholesome and nutritions foods. Cheddar, 

 full cream, Swiss and similar kinds of 

 cheese contain on an average S3 per cent, 

 water, 27 per cent protein, 34 per cent, fat, 

 2 per cent, carbohydrates and 4 per cent, 

 ash, the fuel value being about 2,000 calo- 

 ries a pound. Such cheese as cottage and 

 Neufchatel, which are made from sour 

 milk, are eaten fresh and moist. They con- 

 tain some 60 per cent, water. The protein 

 content is not far from 20 per cent, and the 

 carbohydrate and ash content are much the 

 same as in the sorts mentioned. If made 

 of skim milk, the fat content is low, aver- 

 aging about one per cent. If the cream is 

 included, the fat content is about the same 

 as in other cheese. Depending on whether 

 cream is or is not present, the fuel value 

 ranges from 500 to 1,500 calories a pound. 



It will be seen that cheese, especially such 

 sorts as Cheddar, full cream, etc., contains 

 large percentages of protein and fat, to- 

 gether with small quantities of carbohy- 

 drates and ash. In other words, cheese 

 supplies fairly large quantities of both ni- 

 trogenous material and energy in propor- 

 tion to its bulk. Notwithstanding its high 

 food value, cheese is apparently eaten much 

 less in this country than in some regions 

 of Europe. According to statistics gath- 

 ered by the Storrs Connecticut Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station, cheese furnishes 

 only 0.4 per cent, of the total food, 1.6 per 

 cent, of the total protein and 1.6 per cent, 

 of the total fat in the average American 

 diet. The cheese most commonly eaten is 

 like the English cheddar, and is known by 

 that name or as factory cheese. The thor- 

 oughness with which this kind of cheese 

 is digested by man was recently studied by 

 H. Snyder at the Minnesota Station. He 

 found that when a fairly large quantity was 

 eaten with a ration of bread and milk, 93 

 per cent, of the protein and 95 per cent, 

 of the fat of the cheese were digested, the 

 available energy being 93 per cent. Arti- 

 ficial digestion experiments showed that the 

 pancreas ferment had much more effect on 

 cheese than the peptic, indicating that it 

 is digested in the intestines rather than in 

 the stomach. According to Professor Sny- 

 der, "this is probably thfe reason why cheese 

 is characterized as a hearty food, and fre- 

 quently causes digestive troubles when 

 eaten. In such cases the quantity of cheese 



63 



consumed should be reduced to correspond 

 with the digestive capacity of the indi- 

 vidual." 



In order to promote the manufacture of 

 various kinds of cheese in this country, 

 it is desirable to encourage greater con- 

 sumption and thus increase the demand. 

 Many believe that marketing cheese in 

 more convenient and attractive forms 

 would increase the consumption of this 

 valuable food product. More attention is 

 given to this matter in the case of butter 

 than in the case of cheese. Some of the 

 higher priced sorts are marketed in small 

 packages and jars, but the bulk of the 

 cheese consumed is still undoubtedly mar- 

 keted in large sizes, which are cut into 

 slices and sold by the pound. Such slices 

 do not keep well, since the freshly cut sur- 

 face exposed to the air is large in propor- 

 tion to the weight. E. H. Farrington, of 

 the Wisconsin Station, has reported the re- 

 sults of experiments on the manufacture 

 of cheese in small sizes, the form chosen 

 being suggested by the pound prints of but- 

 ter which have proved so successful. The 

 cheddar cheese experimented with was 

 made by the usual process, the only modi- 

 fication being in the pressing. The curd 

 was placed in a mold, or hoop, of rectan- 

 gular shape, the bottom or "follower" of 

 which was a carved board divided into a 

 number of sections, each of which corre- 

 sponded to a half-pound print of cheese. 

 Two sections would, of course, represent a 

 pound. The form of the prints is deter- 

 mined by the carving of the board, which 

 may be of any size or design to suit any 

 particular market. The sections can be 

 readily cut apart when sold by the retailer. 

 In the experiments at the University of 

 Wisconsin the letters U W were stamped 

 on each section of cheese. The thickness 

 of the block of cheese is, of course, regu- 

 lated by the quantity of curd put into the 

 mold each time. The Wisconsin blocks of 

 cheese averaged nearly 15 pounds in weight 

 and were each divided into 15 prints. The 

 dimensions of each block of cheese were 

 IT -5 by 13-25 by 2.5 inches, each print being 

 2.5 by 4.25 inches. 



No difficulty was experienced in curing 

 the cheeses in the same ways as are fol- 

 lowed with cheddar. The bottom and sides 

 should be greased and the cheese turned 

 occasionally, although it should not rest 

 on the printed surface a long time. By ex- 

 ercising a little care in handling these 



