374 Camembert and Other Soft Cheeses, [august, 



the surface towards the centre. Beginning at the outside 

 there appears a change of the hard raw curd into a softer 

 buttery material, and if the cheeses are properly made this 

 slowly extends to the centre, and in from three to five weeks 

 the ripening process will be complete. 



It is necessary for the luxuriant propagation of the desired 

 moulds that the curd should at the outset be highly acid. 

 Unless the curd is sufficiently acid or sour at the time of 

 salting, the mould will never afterwards grow properly, 

 but if the making room is kept at a sufficiently high tem- 

 perature during the draining process, the cheeses are certain 

 to attain to this condition before the application of salt, 

 which to a great extent stops the development of acidity. 

 The acidity should, however, be allowed to develop 

 naturally. If starters of lactic-acid bacteria are used in 

 soft-cheese making — as in cheddar-making — the develop- 

 ment of acidity will be too rapid during the first 

 stages and the curd will drain quickly, becoming hard 

 and dry, and will not contain sufficient moisture for the 

 growth of the desired moulds. The only ripening material 

 admissible in the manufacture of soft cheeses is a mixture 

 of a little of the ripe cheese — which contains the spores of 

 the moulds or fungi — with water or sweet whey, and this 

 is introduced into the milk before renneting. (The prepara- 

 tion of this form of starter or inoculating material is dealt 

 with on p. 376.) 



Method of Making Camembert Cheese. 



The Camembert is a French variety of cheese, and in 

 France is usually made from whole milk of a quality similar 

 to that given by Shorthorns; often, however, separated or 

 perfectly sweet skimmed milk is mixed with the new in the 

 proportion of 1 to 5. This cheese is usually made from 

 September to May. During the summer months its manu- 

 facture should not be attempted, as the cheese does not then 

 ripen properly. In summer the Camembert gets too soft, 

 and has an offensive smell, and the demand in summer is 

 for a soft cheese of a fresh or unripened type. The cheeses 

 are small — about 4J- ins. wide and ij ins. thick — and weigh 

 from 10 to 13 oz. About 5 J gallons of mixed new and 



