GALACTASE IN RELATION TO CHEESE MAKING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1533, 18 July 1901, Page 56

GALACTASE IN RELATION TO CHEESE MAKING.

At a recent meeting of the "Wisconsin

(U.S.A.) Dairymen"s Association, Dr Babcock explained a discovery he lias made in "relation to cheese making. Working with Professor Russell in 18L>7 he discovered that milk contained a natural ferment, which -tends slowly to digest it, and he named the ferment galactase. Since he first announcd his discovery "he and other scientific expeirts have been carrying on experiments, and the results are in general agreement. It is found that galactase is similar in its action to the pancreatic secretion of the stomach, and that it acts continually on the casein in curd, converting it gradually from an indigestible to a digestible substance. It has been supposed that the riuemng of ciieese was ehected by bacteria, but now it is concluded that the work is done by -galactase. The action of this ferment, it is found, does not cease when cheese is kept "at a temperature as low as freezing point, and this kills the bacteria which, may injure the quality of the cheese. In order to take advantage of this destruction, Dr "Babcock ripened cheeses in refrigerators, and he exhibited some that had been So treated, and that were eight months old, at the recent meeting. They were found to be of the finest texture, free from boles and from mould on the "outsides. The cheese was so thoroughly ripened and softened that it could be spread like butter on bread. Numbers of the people present at the meeting "tested the cheeses, with highly satisfactory results. Dr Pearson, chief of the dairy division of 4 the American Department of Agriculture, who wa3 one of the testers, declared that the discovery presaged the opening of a -new era in cheese making, and an extensive cheese dealer from Chicago was so much pleased with the marketable quality "of the cheese that he announced his intention of equipping some refrigerators, in which he would ripen after the new -fashion the entire output of some good cheese factory. The plan deserves a very extensive trial, as it appears to place the control of quality in cheese muun more iuily in t* l ® hands of the maker than it had been before, and consumers will highly appreciate the improved digestibility of cheese said to be attainable by the new method of ripening it. Often it happens that enthusiastic notices of discoveries lead to disappointment. At preent, however, the case under notice is a very promising one.