MAKING OF GRUYERE

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 23, 28 January 1928, Page 20

MAKING OF GRUYERE

HOLES A HALL-MARK OF QUALITY. How do they put the holes into Swiss cheese? Everybody, of course, knows the music-hall joke about the old woman with one tooth who is supposed to work overtime at thef job; but probably not two persons in a hundred have ever heard the truth abut this little mystery. Some people have a vague idea that the holes are deliberately created to fill up space; others maintain that they are only inserted for purposes of decoration. Both, however, are a very long way from the truth (writes Bobert Scott in the "Newcastle Weekly Chronicle"). Cfruyere cheese, or, to <be more accurate, Em» menthaler, would be just about as palatable without holes, as, say, lager beer without froth. Holes are the hall-mark of quality, ana the bigger the holes the better the cheese. In fact, the cheese with these mysterious cavities are so much in demand in America that experts are hard at work "trying to find a formula," as they say at the League of Nations, for making the holes larger and more numerous. It has been said that Swiss cheese is preferred in America because it is so largely used for making sandwiches, and the holes sell just as well as the cheese for this purpose. But every cheese-eater in America knows perfectly well that it is not the hotel they cherish, but the rich, nutty flavour which their presence denote*, and which has made Emmenthaler famous all. over the world. The merit of Emmenthaler is due to » very mall cause with a very big effect, » tiny microbe which is responsible for the fermentation, of the

1 milk before it turne Into cheese. With thp aid of this benevolent germ the acid salts in the milk are converted into carbonio acid gas, which during j the process of manufacture produces bubbles of different sizes. As the mass cools these gradually evaporate, leaving the cheese pitted with holes. Switzerland produces about £5,000,000 worth of chese every year, her chief rival being the United States, where the manufacture of Emmen thaler is said to have reached a high standard. After a few years of research Michigan experts claim to have discovered a process whereby it is now possible to control the size of the holes and market high-grade Einunenthalcr at lOd a pound. This threat to one of their staple' industries has not unduly perturbed tho Swiss. Anyone can put holes in cheese they reply, but not all the dollar bills ever printed can produce the aromatic Alpine fodder on which Swiss cattle are fed. A good story is told about a distinguished foreigner who was being shown over one of the largest dairy farms in the Emmenthal. For a time he watched the bubbling cauldron's in silence; then, turning to the dairyman he asked, "And how do you put the big holes in the cheese afterwards!" "Oh! that's very simple," said the farmer. "You just tdko a hole and put a lot of cheese,., .">£-, >. >V ".-/ *M n,1 **„' * *