14 
BULLETIN 970, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
held under a uniform temperature in the draining process. At the 
time of salting a cheese should contain about 45 per cent water. 
Salting. — Roquefort cheese is salted on the outside at a tempera- 
ture of approximately 48° F. and in a dry room. It should be 
salted the fourth or fifth day after making. During this period it 
is desirable to have some ventilation to remove the excess moisture 
occasioned by the salting. The entire salting process should require 
about 10 days. At the time of salting the cheese should be moist 
but not wet nor yellow. Having the cheese too dry may result in 
undersalting. The cheeses are carried on a hand truck to the salting 
room and eight cheeses are piled on each board. In order that 
the cheeses may ac- 
quire the same tem- 
perature as the salting 
room they should be 
left there overnight. 
Fine, dry salt then 
is rubbed vigorously 
over the surface of 
the cheese, and all the 
salt that will adhere 
to the cheese is used. 
The salt permeates 
the cheese and tends 
to remove the excess 
whey. After the 
cheeses are salted 
they are put in piles 
of two or three, and 
the following day 
their position is re- 
versed, with no addi- 
tion of salt. On the 
third or fourth day they are again salted in the manner previously 
described. 
After an intervening day the cheese is sprinkled over very lightly. 
Some experience is required before a person can salt Roquefort cheese 
successfully, and this work must be very carefully done. Some 
system of piling or marking should be used in order that one may 
tell at a glance the stage of salting. Unless great care is taken there 
is always a tendency either to undersalt or to oversalt. Under- 
salting is the greater evil. As previously noted in the analyses of 
Roquefort cheese each cheese should contain approximately 4 per 
cent salt and 40 per cent moisture. Since salt amounting to about 
10 per cent of the weight of the cheese is used, there is a loss in drain- 
Fig. 4.— Transferring the cheese from the draining room to the 
curing room. 
