THE CHEESE PROBLEM.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 16 March 1933, Page 4

THE CHEESE PROBLEM.

{To the Editor). Sir,—The object of the cheese-maker is to obtain a maximum quantity of cheese of high quality from a given quantity of milk, but he cannot accomplish this, however extensive his practice, without recognising the principles involved. The production of good cheese depends upon the soil upon which the cattle feed, upon the quality of the milk, and the skill of the maker, especially in his control of temperature and acidity. Cows fed on soil rich in lime usually produce milk which contains a larger percentage of lime than is common in milk produced on other soils, for which reason the acidity of the milk is slightly delayed, while a variation in the. temperature, of the quantity of rennet employed, and the work of manipulation are often necessary. Difficulties which arise owing to the richness or poorness of milk in mineral matter and fat are easily removed by those who have mastered the principles involved, but they present striking obstacles to those who have not. To obtain 'fine cheese it is essential that the milk should be rich, a fact which has long been disputed, while quality also increases the yield. In the first place, then, rich milk produces a mellower cheese, for the reason that it contains more fat; while next it adds considerably to the weight produced'per gallon, for not only does an increased quantity of fat tell, but with that increase, there is also an increased appropriation of the casein and of the water employed. It lias been estimated on the basis of exhaustive experiments that for each pound of fat present in milk the yield of cheese is increased to the extent of 2.7 lb. At the great American trials at Chicago the Jersey herd produced in one month cheese which was worth £ll more than that produced by a similar number of Shorthorns, although the latter breed is in England regarded as the best type, of cow* for cheese production. It is important that in the cheese dairy the water employed should be of the purest, and that the. food supplied to the cattle, whether on pasture or in the stall, should be absolutely free from anything likely to convey an undesirable flavour or bdour to the milk. The. cheese plant or equipment should be of the best modern construction, intended to facilitate the work and to present as little difficulty and trouble in cleaning as possible. The success of cheese manufacture! largely depends upon cleanliness and the consequent prevention of the introduction into the milk of foreign or destructive bacteria, which are not only the cause of illflavour and bad texture, but of abnormal decomposition and decay. With reference to the influence of the solids of milk on cheese production, it should be pointed out that, as the result of experimental work of a most extensive character conducted at the stations in the States of New York and Wisconsin, it was found that with every increase of one- pound of fat there was an increase of .60 of casein and albumen and of one pound of water. When rieli milk was employed, the percentage of solids extracted from the. milk in tiie pro-cess of cheese-making was larger than when it- was poor in quality. The fat lost when the richest milk was used was .17 per cent., while it reached .49 per cent, when cheese was made from poor milk, the average being .29 per cent-., or 65- per cent, of the total fat. The quantity of casein and albumen lost under similar conditions was equal, on the average, to 23.3 per cent, of the total. On the basis of the work of one. year, too, it was found that the green or unripe cheese produced per 1001 bof milk was equivalent to the weight of the fat present in that milk multiplied by 2.75. Thus, if thei milk contained 4 per cent, of fat, 100 lb., or 10 gallons of milk, produced eleven pounds of cheese, while where the milk contained 31 per cent, of fat, the elieese produced would reach 9.6 lb.—l am, etc., W. A. DOWNES.