32 MANUFACTURE AND CURING OF CHEESE. 
pounds of milk being used for part of the work and double this amount 
for the remainder. This was thought desirable, as under the present 
market conditions much of the cheese is rushed from the factory to 
the consumer, and with our present knowledge of cheese as a food 
product it is desirable that at least some degree of ripening should 
occur before the cheese is eaten. It is entirely possible that a great 
deal of cheese, especially in the early spring, gets into the hands of the 
consumer at two weeks after making. Ordinarily there woidd be very 
little chance for breaking down or ripening to occur within this period. 
It has been demonstrated that rennet hastens this process, and it is 
quite desirable, or at least appears to be desirable, to have some means 
for hastening the ripening either when the cheese goes upon the market 
so young or when it goes into storage direct from the hoop, as the cold 
temperature of course checks the ripening process. Unfortunately 
there was no opportunity to compare the exact rate of ripening of the 
high and low rennet cheese. This has been done, however, in Wis- 
consin, and it was demonstrated thoroughly that cheese made with 
double the usual quantity of rennet broke down much faster than that 
with the ordinary quantity. The cheese in our experiments was 
closely observed and the rate of ripening was determined, so far as 
this could be done without chemical analysis. 
If the use of larger quantities of rennet ever becomes customary, it 
will be desirable to have some data to show the effect of the rennet on 
the quality of the cheese as well as on its rate of ripening. This, of 
course, is demonstrated more or less thoroughly in the work here 
presented. 
SELECTION AND HANDLING OF MILK AND CURD. 
As has been noted before, the cheese for these experiments was made 
on a commercial scale. It was made up entirely in a large vat holding 
about 5,000 pounds of milk, and in no case were any small experimen- 
tal lots manufactured. At first there was an attempt made to select 
milk that would make up a good cheese. This was done by watching 
the development of the milk in the three vats in the factory, and about 
the time the whey was drawn selecting the most promising curd. 
This was discontinued, however, after a few days, and the plan then 
followed was to watch the vats from day to day and take the contents 
of the vat that appeared to be doing the best for a continued period of 
time. This resulted in getting a few lots of cheese that were not the best, 
as shown in the curd; a number of the curds were tainted, and in one or 
two instances the curds were slightly gassy. This was not undesirable, 
however, from an experimental point of view, for any benefits that 
may be derived from storage are likely to be in its application to what 
might otherwise be a poor cheese. In fact, this is a line of work that 
the Dairy Division has in view for the future. 
