Cold Curing of Cheese. 



61 



advantage, as they give a more buttery and softer texture, as 

 well as hasten the ripening process. 



In the cheese made at low temperatures there had been 

 noticed in the previous year white specks more or less uniformly 

 distributed throughout the cheese. Their nature is not as yet 

 known, but they do not appear to affect the flavour or texture 

 in any way, and from a commercial point of view they are not 

 of much significance, as they are quite obscure. Some experi- 

 ments have been made to discover the conditions which affect 

 the development of these white specks. The chief factors 

 determining their formation appear to be temperature and salt. 

 Low temperatures favour their production, but they rarely 

 appear at 60 degrees. The addition of salt tends to prevent 

 their formation under all conditions, and they are not so 

 apparent when increased quantities of rennet are used. They 

 are especially abundant in skim cheese, but do not appear in 

 very rich cheese, even at low temperatures ; while in sweet curd 

 cheese no specks were found at any temperature. 



It is stated that the general results obtained in Wisconsin as 

 to the superiority of cold cured cheese have been confirmed in 

 Canada at the Ontario Agricultural College, and that the 

 Canadian Government has already inaugurated an extended 

 system of cold curing plants of this character in which the pro- 

 duct is cured directly from the press. 



Many dealers in the State of Wisconsin have begun to adopt 

 this plan, and have bought a considerable quantity of cheese for 

 cold curing direct from the press, with satisfactory results. A 

 number of the wholesale dealers in Chicago are likewise cold 

 curing a large portion of the product. The custom of placing 

 cheese in cold storage for keeping has been followed for some 

 time ; at first this was only done with ripened cheese, but the 

 tendency has lately been to shorten the period of curing at the 

 factory and to put the cheese into storage earlier. 



