170 REPORT OF THE CHEMIST OF THE 
CHEMICAL STUDIES OF CAMEMBERT 
CHEESE.* 
ALFRED W. BOSWORTH. 
SUMMARY. 
I. Camembert cheese can be made in the laboratory which com- 
pares very closely to the cheeses found upon the American market, 
to the cheeses imported from Europe, and to those worked upon by 
other investigators. 
2. The only function of the rennet in this type of cheese is to 
coagulate the milk. | 
3. The bacteria are responsible for the most important chemical 
changes which take place in the cheese during its early history. 
4. The changes caused by the bacteria, directly or indirectly, are 
as follows: 
(a) Lactic acid is produced from milk sugar. 
(b) This acid as formed combines with some of the insoluble © 
calcium which is present in a new cheese as phosphates and as cal- 
cium paracasein. 
(c) The lactic acid in combining with some of the calcium of 
the insoluble phosphates produces calcium lactate and soluble phos- 
phates. ‘These soluble phosphates are acid salts and increase the 
acidity of the cheese. | 
(d) The production of lactic acid in some way, as yet not known, 
has an effect upon the calcium paracasein whereby it is completely 
changed into a form soluble in 5 per ct. salt solution. 
(e) The further production of lactic acid changes this salt- 
soluble compound into a form insoluble in salt solution and water. 
5. Ihe acidity of camembert cheese is due, mainly, to two things: 
Paracasein and mono-calcium phosphate (CaH,P,O,). 
6. One of the characteristic differences in the making of cheddar 
cheese and camembert cheese seems to be the proper control of the 
production of the salt-soluble compound and of the subsequent 
change in this compound. 


«A reprint of Tech. Bul. No. 5. 
