5 i8 



Cold Curing of Cheese. 



experiments which have been made by the same investigators 

 at the Wisconsin Experiment Station, and published in a 

 recent bulletin. The results indicate that cheese cured at 

 temperatures of from 33 0 to 50 0 was superior in flavour, 

 commercial value, keeping qualities, &c, to the cheese cured 

 at 6o°, and that the losses due to mould and shrinkage were 

 much less. The authors state that while the cold-cured cheese 

 is exceptionally mild in flavour, even when a year or more old, 

 it is possible to subsequently develop almost any degree of 

 flavour desired by exposing the cheeses to higher temperatures 

 (6o° Fahrenheit) for varying periods of time after they have 

 been thoroughly broken down under cold-curing conditions. 

 The danger of developing abnormal or undesirable flavours 

 is much less in this subsequent treatment than it is where 

 the green cheese is held for a period at high temperatures. 

 In cold-cured cheese it is permissible to use much larger 

 amounts of rennet than can be safely used in cheese cured 

 at 6o° Fahrenheit or above. This increase in rennet hastens 

 the course of ripening and has a tendency to make the cheese 

 more open in body, but even with two or three times the 

 normal amount of rennet the flavour of cold-cured cheese 

 is still clean and mild, and the texture smooth and silky. 



The advantages and disadvantages of cold curing were also 

 considered from a commercial standpoint. It is inferred 

 that cold curing of cheese cannot well be applied to 

 the handling of the product of a single factory, as it entails 

 the use of refrigeration (natural or mechanical) to secure the 

 desired temperatures. A properly insulated and equipped 

 cold-curing station could, however, be constructed by means of 

 co-operation between a number of contiguous factories. One 

 great advantage of a curing station is that the factories 

 where the cheese is actually made may be of the simplest 

 construction, and do not need any provision for curing, as the 

 product should be sent every few days to the central curing 

 station. Numerous other advantages accrue from this method 

 of handling cheese, all of which tend to lower the cost, such as 

 the lessened expenses of buying, carriage, &c, while at the 

 same time the product is better, more uniform, and of much 

 better keeping quality. 



