ctic
bacteria is gradually used up by the growth of the mold, and
conditions then become favorable for the growth of putrefactive
bacteria which digest the curd. The cheese is ready for use when the
action of the mold has penetrated to the center of the cheese, and
before any pronounced putrefaction has taken place. The production
of the typical flavor is dependent upon there being a definite
relation between the growth of the molds and bacteria. This relation
is dependent largely upon the moisture and temperature of the curing
room. These cannot always be regulated with exactness; and hence,
much of this type of cheese is not of first quality, and must be
sold for a low price. While such fancy cheeses, as Camembert, bring
fifty cents and upward per pound, and the yield from the milk is
much greater than with the hard type of cheese, yet the difficulties
of successful manufacture are such as to make success less easily
attained than with the other types.

There are many other kinds of soft cheese that depend for their
ripening upon factors similar to those concerned in the ripening of
Camembert; most of them are, however, of small importance from a
commercial standpoint.

=Limburger cheese.= A very famous cheese is one originally made in
Germany to which the name Limburger is given. It is classed as a
soft cheese although it is much firmer than Camembert. This cheese
is made from cow's milk and is pressed very lightly or not at all,
which condition accounts for its high per cent (50 per cent) of
moisture. The surface is kept moist by repeated washing of the
cheese, and by keeping the air of the curing room very moist. A
yellowish, slimy, bacterial layer soon develops on the surface under
these conditions. The enzymes produced by this external growth
gradually diffuse to the center of the cheese, when it is regarded
as ripe. The odor of the matured product is somewhat putrefactive,
but is not so offensive as is usually supposed.

Definite knowledge concerning the types of organisms concerned in
the surface layer is very limited. It is not certain whether the
same kinds of organisms must always be present. Limburger is much
easier to make than Camembert, due possibly to the fact that there
are not needed definite forms of life and that the balance between
them is not so delicate.

A cheese known as brick is closely related to Limburger in its
method of making and of ripening but is less pronounced in flavor.

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