Compodtion of Cheese. 
67 
air. This is an objoctlon.able practice, whicli no doubt bas its 
origin in tlie desire to maintain in the store-rooms a somewhat 
elevated temperature, and to avoid draughts of cokl air. 
It is quite true that draughts are injurious to newly-made 
cheese, and a somewhat elevated temperature decidedly favours 
its ripcMiing and the development of a fine flavour ; but the one 
may be avoided, and the other can be maintained C|uite well, at 
the same time that due provision is made for the admission and 
circulation of fresh air. 
During the first stage of ripening, a good deal of water and 
other emanations escape from the cheeses, which, if not allowed 
freely to pass away, make the air damp and injure the flavour of 
the cheeses. Why cheese should be kept in dark rooms is to me 
a mystery. 
2. Cheese newhj made is sjwilcd hy not turnimj it frequently 
enough. 
Thick cheeses especially require to be frequently turned, in 
order that the water which is given off from the interior warmer 
parts of the cheese may freely escape, and all sides be exposed 
at short intervals to the air. If this is neglected, that part which 
is in close contact with the board on which it rests becomes 
smeary and rots, and by degrees the whole cheese is spoiled. 
The boards, we need hardly say, should be wiped with a dry cloth 
from time to time as well as the cheese. 
o. Cheese does not ripen properly, and therefore remains deficient 
in flavour, if the temperature of the cheese-room is too loiv. 
The ripening of cheese is essentially a process of fermentation, 
which may be accelerated or depressed by a proper or by too 
low a temperature. Any temperature under 60° is unfavourable, 
and should therefore be avoided. 
4. Cheese is also spoiled if the temperature of the cheese-room is 
too high. 
If the temperature of the room rises above 75° F. the fermen- 
tation becomes so active that a cheese is apt to bulge out at the 
sides, and to lose the uniform and close texture which charac- 
terises it when good. 
5. Lastly, cheese is sometimes spoiled if the temperature of the 
cheese-room varies too much at different times. 
A steady fermentation, which is essential to the proper 
ripening of the cheese, can only be maintained in a room which 
is not subject to great fluctuations in temperature. The more 
unitormly, therefore, the cheese-room is heated, the more readily 
cheese can be brought into the market, and the finer the quality 
■will be. For this reason hot-water pipes, which give a very steady, 
gentle, and lasting heat, are greatly to be preferred to stoves in 
F 2 
