Part 3

In good cheeses almost no yeasts were found, but in the sweet-flavored cheeses sometimes half of the germs present were yeasts; and they were always found where the sweet flavor was noticed. Yeasts have not been recognized, hitherto, as a cause for such cheese faults; but their presence in such numbers cast strong suspicion upon them; which actual work proved to be well founded, for pronounced cases of sweet flavor developed in cheeses made from pure milk inoculated with the yeasts; and the vat in which the cheese was made became contaminated so that, without further intentional inoculation, sweet-flavored cheese was produced where none had been known before. As yeasts have hitherto played minor parts in dairy investigations, no classification of those found has yet been made, nor has the exact flavor due to each one been determined. Further study is being given to the subject.

RUSTY SPOT IN CHEDDAR CHEESE.

Rusty spot is not a flavor trouble, as spotted cheeses of this kind may be all right in taste and smell. The spots, however, are offensive to the eye and render the cheese salable only at a reduction in price, if at all. From the Station investigations, continued for nearly two years, along much the same lines as the flavor studies but with a little more definite guide in color than in taste and smell, some direct knowledge has been gained, though not as definite as could be desired along preventive and remedial lines.

The rusty spots are colonies of minute plants, bacteria, growing on the walls of the air spaces within the cheese. The trouble usually appears in May, often does little harm during the middle of the summer and generally disappears in October. In cheese made with a high acid content the moisture content of the air spaces within the cheese is low, and without abundance of moisture the germs make little growth; hence the spots are too small to be noticed. The marked influence, on the germs of rusty spot, of this slight variation in the character of the cheese probably accounts for the unexpected appearance and disappearance of the spots from cheeses of an occasional day’s make in infected factories.

Where the spots are not too large or too plentiful, giving the cheese a good high color covers up the rustiness so that it is not noticeable. To get entirely rid of the trouble has bothered some of the best cheese-makers, aided by good advisers; but plenty of hot water followed by a liberal use of live steam on vats, cans and working utensils should give good results.

FOOTNOTES:

Connected with Fertilizer Control.

At Second Judicial Department Branch Station, Jamaica, N. Y.

Absent on leave.

This is a brief review of Bulletin No. 183 of this Station entitled Notes on Some Dairy Troubles, by H. A. Harding, L. A. Rogers and G. A. Smith. Anyone specially interested in the detailed account of the investigations will be furnished, on application, with a copy of the complete bulletin. The names of those who so request will be placed on the Station mailing list to receive future bulletins, popular or complete as desired. Bulletins are issued at irregular intervals as investigations are completed, not monthly.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

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