—In the curing of cheese sometimes it is coated with paraffine to avoid loss of weight. Coating with paraffine does not necessarily interfere with the character of the cheese, though it is probable that it must interfere in some way with the normal ferments. Paraffine is wholly indigestible and may produce injurious effects if swallowed with the cheese. (“Farmers’ Bulletins,” Nos. 186-190.)
Fancy Cheeses.
—There is a large number of cheeses made in which cream enters as a prominent part. It is difficult to give these any particular name and the term “fancy cheese” has been applied to this form of cheese as a whole. They are usually put up in small packages or little pots and thus form an article of diet quite distinct from the large press cheese of commerce. In fact they are intended more for condimental purposes and to be eaten in something of the same manner as butter rather than cheese. These cheeses usually are sold for a much higher price and, therefore, can be regarded more as a luxury than as a regular article of diet.
It might be well to mention some of the more particular varieties of these fancy cheeses.
Gruyère.
—Gruyère is a cheese made in Switzerland, where it is much prized and from where it is sent to the various parts of the world. It is a pressed cheese and is rather of a larger size than the fancy cheeses already described, and it is difficult to say whether or not it should find a place among them.
Parmesan.
—Parmesan is a variety of cheese made in Italy. It is about the same size as Gruyère and thus has an intermediate place between the large pressed cheeses of commerce and the fancy cheeses above mentioned.
Gorgonzola
cheese is a very familiar cheese made in Italy and belongs to the same class as the two preceding ones. It is in one sense a fancy cheese and yet is made in such quantities as to belong rather to the commercial variety.