CHEESE PRESERVING.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1523, 8 April 1882, Page 4

CHEESE PRESERVING.

'Wje t;ike the following particulars from ithe paper by Mr G. F.^Koumien, pnbjlishecl in tlie Journal of.tnc British Dairy I Farmers' Association i^- t "i" i \ j It seems a very 5 .remarkable fact that {although inventions have l>een made for (preserving nearly every kind of food, ,yet Inp to within a very short time no effectual method of. preserving cheese from ther&yages ;of, mites and has Ijeeii discovered. The waste of cheese by .these two enemies, so to, speak, ,of this class of food is really most' appalling, when you considei' the amount of capital lost, especially in that desciiption of cheese iknown as Stilton: The following statistics will show* the reality of 'the facts. One hundred cows will make about sixty Ichccscs a day (Stilton), this' during <a (period of '2oo' days, ol" a trifle over six jmonths, would give' just 12,000 cheeses; estimating the waste of each cheese from mites, &c, at the low- rate of 211> per 'cheese, we have a gross loss of 24,0001b ; 'that at Is per Ib will give the very large {sum of £1200 actual loss' in a monetary 'point through the lack of some efficient method of preserving. I There ' ai-e extant many processes whereby cheeses are for a time preserved to a certain extent; such us salting, condensing, hermetically sealing, 'and the Dutch as a practice-scrape their cheeses several times to keep away the mould, and ultimately color them with, tourncsol, aniline; 'and 'other colors; but these are not altogether effective methods, besides being very costly, and in some cases not even practicable. , Some continental descriptions of cheeses, and especially the Swiss, are occasionally met with enclosed in skins or bladders, biit these are only found in small quantities, and the system would not answci in the oiisc of Cheddar or Gloucester cheese. The Roquefort cheeses arc always encased in tinfoil as a piesorvative against the damp atmosphcic that they are subjected to during their "toragc in the celebrated caves from which they derive their name? ; in<this instance, pei haps, this is the only effective and necessary covering or preservative that this uliiss of cheese requires ; but other and more common kinds of cheese, being more susceptible to decay, &c, require other means less costly and more permanent to preserve them. The most simple, and from the lesults of three or four years' ci ucial test, the most effectual, and decidedly the cheapest method is one invented by Mr A. P. Van de Water, of Haarlem. Holland. He has just patented Ins process, or the fluid which he uses in the process of preserving, and has given it the name of "Septon," which means preservative. The principle of the Septon is to form an entirely, ne>v and impel vious ciust o\ er the cheese, thereby rendering it impregnable to mites and mould ; at the same time the interior of the cheese is not affected jn the least. The most important feature of this new process is the lapidity with which cheese aheady in a state of decciy can be stopped and preserved against further loss. The Stilton cheese, perhaps of all cheeses, is the one most susceptible to decay of all descriptions, a 5!a 5 ! well ah to the ictvages of mites. The only objection to the Septon in the c;isc of Stilton is that it imparts to the outside of the cheese a smooth or greasy look, which i& rather objectionable to the eye ; but the. appearance of the otitside of the cheese ought to bo quite a secondary considciation to the result gained in keepinyfreefiom mite. By the application of Septon, immediately the cheese is made, a crust is formed in two months equal to the natural crust which takes seven or eight months to perfect ; this again, is a decided advantage, as the cheese will so much the sooner be fit to be moved. Tf the crust is hard a little soda may with advantage be put in the water. Cheeses such as Cheddar, Gouda, Gruycre, Eidam, etc., which form crust fast should be placed in a mixture of, say, six gallons of water and one gallon of Septon; they should remain in this mixture about ten minutes, and when taken out dried with a cloth. This process should be i epeated once every week for three weeks, after this they will be iit to be stored away for ordinary use. if the cheese gets damaged by mice, or in any other way, the damaged part should be w ashed over with undiluted Septon, when the cheese is taken out of the mixtiue. Stilton and Gorgonzola require lather moie caicful manipulation, and should not be dipped too often — about once in every ten days, and not more than three times. It is essential to keep the cheese in a dry place. With an occasional addition of fresh Septon the mixture will, if placed in bottles or casks after each time of using, remain good for almost any length of time.