Scientists Study Factors Tending to Better Cheese

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1940, Page 28 (Supplement)

Scientists Study Factors Tending to Better Cheese

A series of experiments, conducted partly in the Massey College factory and partly in a commercial factory were made last year for the purpose of investigating rind formation in cheese and the cause of cracked rinds. Reporting upon these experiments Dr. R. M. Dolby told the annual conference of the New Zealand Dairy Science Association that a porous layer between the curd and the hoop was essential to the formation of a close rind. Hessian outer bandages should therefore be in good condition. , Scalding did not appear to be essential to rind formation. Curd of law acidity (slow vats), high salt content or low temperature (below 70 deg. F) did not give a good rind. Lack of pressing, wrinkled bandages or any disturbance of the curd after it was cold would cause rind cracks. Adverse storage conditions did not produce rind cracks, but could accentuate cracks already present. As indicating the close and continuous study of factors relating to the manufacture of good cheese an account of the investigation of the sources of lactobacilli met with in cheese ripening was given by Dr. I. R. Sherwood. He said it had been previously shown that in New Zealand the milk for cheese was flashpasteurised and an appreciable proportion of the lactobacilli population of the milk survived and passed into the cheese curd. Investigation had shown that all types of lactobacilli of common occurrence in cheese also occurred in milking machines, Humidity In Curing. Another investigation carried out during the year was on the control of humidity in cheese curing rooms. This was handled by Dr. T. R. Vernon, who pointcd out that curing rooms in New Zealand were subject to wide variations of temperature and humidity. In most cases control had not been adopted largely on account of cost. Apparatus for the automatic eontrol of . temperature and humidity was now available and three factories in the Mannwatu district owned ; curing rooms equipped with this ap- ;

paratus. Automatic humidity control was obtained through a humidistat operating a heating coil to reduce humidity (excess moisture being condensed on cooling coils and run to waste), and a steam spray to raise the humidity. Temperature was controlled to plus or minus 1 deg. F. The most suitable humidity was a matter of compromise. Throughout last season pairs of cheese from a single vat were stored for 14 days in curing rooms of different types. Temperature and humidity records were kept and a study made of shrinkage losses, incidence of mould. and effect on rinds and quality generally.