220 BACTERIA AND OTHER MICROORGANISMS IN CHEESE 
The process of ripening is different, the agents that bring it about 
are different, and the final results are very different from those in 
the hard cheeses. Moreover, the ripening is liable to greater varia- 
tions in the soft cheeses than in the hard cheeses, and it is more 
difficult to control, because of the presence of so much moisture. 
Bacteria, yeasts, and molds all find a suitable medium for growth 
in the wet curd of the soft green cheese, and unless the progress of 
the ripening is exactly right, the cheese-maker may expect the 
development of kinds of microdrganisms that are unfavorable to 
his product and that will spoil his cheeses. Soft cheeses are much 
less uniform in character than hard cheeses. They differ very 
greatly in texture and flavor, and are subject to various defects 
that injure or ruin them. They are, in short, more difficult to 
make with success than the hard cheeses, largely, if not wholly, 
because the water they contain offers such a favorable medium for 
the growth of bacteria and other microérganisms. 
The ripening of several of these cheeses has been carefully 
studied by bacteriologists. A brief description of the phenomena 
in three of these will illustrate the principles concerned. The 
three described represent three types of soft cheeses. 
Camembert Cheese-—This, together with Brie cheese and some 
others, represents a type in which the ripening is due partly to 
bacteria in the curd and partly to molds growing on the surface of 
the cheese, but not penetrating below the surface. The cheeses are 
small, about four inches in diameter and one inch thick. The 
soft curd is dipped out with the whey into forms and allowed to 
drain by its own weight. The cheese, with its large moisture con- 
tent, is then allowed to ripen in a damp room where the tempera- 
ture is low. Sometimes two rooms of different temperatures are 
used. The ripening occupies from five to eight weeks, and a series 
of changes takes place in the cheese, of which the following is a 
summary: 
The first phenomenon that occurs is the souring of the curd, 
which is brought about by the Bact. lacizs acidi type of organism. 
