A good, properly manufactured cheese will never huff up on the
surface, or swell the bandage to the point of protuberance. Cheese
often huff slightly when curing, and afterward flatten into a
smooth, firm surface, but they are never No. 1 stock. The writer can
remember fifteen years back when makers did not understand working
gaseous curds as they do now. Sales and shipments were far between
then, and cheese accumulated in great numbers in factories. It was
no uncommon thing in the years ’73 and ’74, in passing through a
curing room containing 500 or 600 cheese, to find a large percentage
of the umber covered with immense blisters, that held in retention
offensive smelling gases. Every day the maker would lance these
unhealthy swellings with a wire or goose quill, only to have them
shortly after bulge out in another place. Besides these partially
affected cheese, there were often days’ makes of those that would
huff all over, swell out like huge puff balls till a slight jar
would have rolled them from the shelves. These were the product of
floating curds with the gas all left in. A decade and a half ago
farmers did not take the same care of their milk that they do now.
They were not versed in dairy literature to any extent, and did not
see the importance of speedily expelling animal heat from milk or of
always furnishing their cows with wholesome drinking water. Hence,
tainted milk was more often the rule than the exception. With the
present bettered quality of milk and the improved skill of makers in
handling it, inflative cheese ought to now be foreign to the curing
room. Bad taints are at present seldom met with, but slight ones
creep in unawares, unless the maker is vigilant, and then it is his
business to eradicate the ill-savor. Sour until acid has completely
overcome the gas, grind twice, and give the curd a prolonged airing
by frequent stirring. Try the prolonged stirring on common curds that
are hot—too hot to go immediately to press—and notice how it will
enhance the flavor of the cheese.