Bondon
cheese is another cheese which is made largely in the region of Rouen. The size of the cheese is usually very small, from seven to nine being made from a gallon of milk. The method of manufacture is more like that of Gervais and differs from it chiefly in being made solely from milk instead of a mixture of milk and cream.
Limburger Cheese.
—Limburger cheese is one of the most famous of the different varieties of foreign cheese, chiefly because of its bad odor. This odor is due to specific forms of ferments introduced during the ripening process. Generally Limburger cheese is made from pure milk, but occasionally skimmed or partially skimmed milk is used. The milk is set at rather a high temperature, from 92 to 100 degrees. After the coagulation has taken place the curd is broken into pieces the size of a hen’s egg and allowed to settle to the bottom of the kettle as the whey separates. In England a copper kettle is usually employed for the testing vessel. After the whey has separated the curd is taken out and placed in rectangular molds with perforated bottoms, then laid on tables so that the remaining portion of the whey may drain off. The molds are turned from time to time to promote the separation of the whey and to make the cheeses keep their form. The cheeses are next placed in rows on a flat table with thin pieces of boards between them and subjected to light pressure. During this time they are salted by applying salt externally and rubbing the surface at frequent intervals for three or four days. The salt dissolves and permeates the mass. During the salting and pressing the cheeses are kept at a uniform temperature of about 60 degrees. The curing takes place in cellars, well ventilated but very moist, at a temperature of about 60 degrees. As the cheeses ripen they grow soft. The curd takes on its characteristic greasy appearance at the time of the ripening, becoming, at first, a yellow and then a reddish yellow. The softening begins on the outside and proceeds toward the center and the cheese is considered to be marketable when one-fourth of it has taken on its characteristic texture. The softening of Limburger cheese is due to a ferment which breaks down into a soft mass the casein or paracasein of which the cheese is largely composed. By using the same kind of ferments and by following the same process, imitations of Limburger cheese are made in the United States and other countries. These imitations, however, never equal the original in the character of the product nor in flavor or taste, and should not bear the name of the real article.
COMPOSITION OF LIMBURGER CHEESE.
| Water, | 35.7 | percent |
| Fat, | 34.2 | „ |
| Casein products, | 24.2 | „ |
| Milk sugar and undetermined, | 3.0 | „ |
| Ash, | 2.9 | „ |
Limburger cheese was first made in the Province of Lüttick in Belgium. It has, however, come to be considered chiefly as of German production. The chief cause of the putrefactive fermentation which takes place in Limburger cheese is the extremely moist condition in which it is kept. For this purpose the atmosphere of the ripening cellar should be almost saturated with aqueous vapor, containing at least 95 percent of its maximum degree of saturation. This moist atmosphere, together with the low temperature at which the curing takes place, keeps the cheese soft and promotes the putrifactive ferments. Under these conditions the surface soon begins to get shiny and soft and changes from white to a reddish yellow. This change makes its way to the center, converting the harsh curd to a soft condition. The time required for this softening of the cheese is from four to six weeks. (“Cheese Making,” by John W. Decker.)
Edam Cheese.
—Edam cheese is one of the most famous of the cheeses of Holland. It is made at the town of Edam, situated on the Zuyder Zee, about twelve miles northeast of Amsterdam. The milk from which Edam cheese is made should be properly acidified as has already been described. The coagulation takes place and the curd is separated much in the same manner as is used in the manufacture of Cheddar cheese. The curd is held for a time in the vat in a granular condition in order to develop greater acidity and until it will string one-half inch or one inch on the hot iron already described. It is then ready for the mold. The molds are of such a character as to give the cheese a spherical shape about six inches in diameter. Each cheese weighs about four pounds. It has a perfectly solid texture and its flavor is something like that of old Cheddar, except that it is a little more salty and somewhat harder. It is cured at a temperature of about 60 degrees and at a humidity of about 80 degrees. The curing period is somewhat longer than for most cheeses, lasting about eight or ten months and even a year. A slow curing is particularly necessary in the production of Edam cheese.