CHEESE. Syn. Ca′seum, Ca′seus, L. The curd of milk compressed into a solid mass. That of commerce is usually salted and dried, and in some varieties it is also coloured and flavoured.
The process of cheese-making is one which is eminently interesting and scientific, and which, in every gradation, depends on principles which chemistry has developed and illustrated. When a vegetable or mineral acid is added to milk, and heat applied, a coagulum is formed, which, when separated from the liquid portion, constitutes cheese. Neutral salts, earthy and metallic salts, sugar, and gum Arabic, as well as some other substances, also produce the same effect; but that which answers the purpose best, and which is almost exclusively used by dairy farmers, is rennet, or the mucous membrane of the last stomach of the calf. Alkalies dissolve this curd at a boiling heat, and acids again precipitate it. The solubility of casein in milk is occasioned by the presence of the phosphates and other salts of the alkalies. In fresh milk these substances may be readily detected by the property it possesses of restoring the colour of reddened litmus paper. The addition of an acid neutralises the alkali, and so precipitates the curd in an insoluble state. The philosophy of cheese-making is thus expounded by Liebig:—
“The acid indispensable to the coagulation of milk is not added to the milk in the preparation of cheese, but it is formed in the milk at the expense of the milk-sugar present. A small quantity of water is left in contact with a small quantity of a calf’s stomach for a few hours, or for a night; the water absorbs so minute a portion of the mucous membrane as to be scarcely ponderable; this is mixed with milk; its state of transformation is communicated (and this is a most important circumstance), not to the cheese, but to the milk-sugar, the elements of which transpose themselves into lactic acid, which neutralises the alkalies, and thus causes the separation of the cheese. By means of litmus paper the process may be followed and observed through all its stages; the alkaline reaction of the milk ceases as soon as the coagulation begins. If the cheese is not immediately separated from the whey, the formation of lactic acid continues, the fluid turns acid, and the cheese itself passes into a state of decomposition.
“When cheese-curd is kept in a cool place a series of transformations takes place, in consequence of which it assumes entirely new properties; it gradually becomes semi-transparent, and more or less soft, throughout the whole mass; it exhibits a feebly acid reaction, and develops the characteristic caseous odour. Fresh cheese is very sparingly soluble in water, but after having been left to itself for two or three years it becomes (especially if
all the fat be previously removed) almost completely soluble in cold water, forming with it a solution which, like milk, is coagulated by the addition of the acetic or any mineral acid. The cheese, which whilst fresh is insoluble, returns during the maturation, or ripening, as it is called, to a state similar to that in which it originally existed in the milk. In those English, Dutch, and Swiss cheeses which are nearly inodorous, and in the superior kinds of French cheese, the caseine of the milk is present in its unaltered state.
“The odour and flavour of the cheese is owing to the decomposition of the butter; the non-volatile acids, the margaric and oleic acids, and the volatile butyric acid, capric and caproic acids are liberated in consequence of the decomposition of glycerin. Butyric acid imparts to cheese its characteristic caseous odour, and the differences in its pungency or aromatic flavour depend upon the proportion of free butyric, capric, and caproic acids present.” In the cheese of certain dairies and districts, valerianic acid has been detected along with the other acids just referred to. Messrs Jljenko and Laskowski found this acid in the cheese of Limbourg, and M. Bolard in that of Roquefort.
“The transition of the insoluble into soluble casein depends upon the decomposition of the phosphate of lime by the margaric acid of the butter; margarate of lime is formed, whilst the phosphoric acid combines with the casein, forming a compound soluble in water.
“The bad smell of inferior kinds of cheese, especially those called meagre or poor cheeses, is caused by certain fetid products containing sulphur, and which are formed by the decomposition or putrefaction of the casein. The alteration which the butter undergoes (that is, in becoming rancid), or which occurs in the milk-sugar still present, being transmitted to the casein, changes both the composition of the latter substance and its nutritive qualities.
“The principal conditions for the preparation of the superior kinds of cheese (other obvious circumstances being of course duly regarded) are a careful removal of the whey, which holds the milk-sugar in solution, and a low temperature during the maturation or ripening of the cheese.”
Cheese differs vastly in quality and flavour, according to the method employed in its manufacture and the richness of the milk of which it is made. Much depends upon the quantity of cream it contains, and consequently, when a superior quality of cheese is desired, cream is frequently added to the curd. This plan is adopted in the manufacture of Stilton cheese and others of a like description. The addition of a pound or two of butter to the curd for a middling size cheese also vastly improves the quality of the product. To ensure the richness of the milk, not only should the cows be properly fed, but certain breeds chosen. Those of Alderney, Cheddar, Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Guernsey, and North Wiltshire deserve a preference in this respect.