

282 ‘Report oF THE CHEMIST OF THE 
hundred pounds of cheese. This is a somewhat larger proportion 
of loss than is common in factories. It is probably accounted for 
by the fact that, during the first two weeks after the cheeses were 
made, the weather was extremely warm and there was no suitable 
place for storing the cheese at the time, so that they were not at 
this time kept at an even temperature. After the first month, 
the cheeses were placed in a room of fairly uniform temperature 
and kept at 60° to 65° F. They were turned daily. 
The cheeses that contained the largest amount of fat were, in 
two instances, the ones to lose the most weight, though the loss 
in most cases does not vary with the fat. The water contained in 
the cheese also appears to be in no way connected with the loss 
of weight. The cheese containing the largest proportion of water 
did not lose most, nor'did the one containing least water lose 
least weight. The thickness of the cheese does not appear to be 
connected with the loss of weight. The cheeses were of uniform 
diameter, but varied, as shown in the table, in the thickness. 
Cheeses of the same thickness lost quite different weights. The 
loss of weight was not uniform from week to week but shows 
considerable variation. | 
INFLUENCE OF THE RIPENING OF CHEESE ON THE Fart. 
There are two sources of loss or change in the fat contents of 
cheese in the process of ripening, (1st) mechanical, (2d) chemical. 
1..In the first stages of ripening it is a familiar sight to see 
the outside of a cheese covered with fat that has exuded from the 
cheese, especially if the amount of fat in the cheese is large and 
if the cheese is stored in a room where the temperature is rather 
high. This loss of fat is what we may call mechanical as distin- 
guished from chemical. Owing to the difficulty, previously 
mentioned, of securing samples of cheese to represent fairly the 
composition of the whole cheese, the data furnished by analysis 
of the cheese are not satisfactory and are of practically no value 
in this connection. As the figures do not give us any real infor- 
mation in regard to the changes of fat due to mechanical loss, 
they are not presented here. We can say, in general, that during 
the first five weeks of ripening, there was a loss.of fat, as shown 
by analysis. 
2. The chemical changes due to the ripening of cheese are i 
mainly a decomposition of the fats with the formation of freefatty _ 

> 7 


