Cheese consists of the coagulated casein of milk, together with the
fat globules that may be mechanically retained. Cheese is made by
coagulating the milk with rennet, which has been extracted from the
stomach of a calf, the sugar of the milk being passed off in the whey,
and lost.
Schmier Käse or cottage cheese is formed by allowing the milk to sour,
and to coagulate by gradual warming. This cheese is usually made from
skimmed milk, hence contains practically no fat.
[Sidenote: The several processes of making cheese]
The cheese of commerce is ripened in various ways. The process of
ripening is due to the action of enzyms present in the milk, or to those
formed by bacterial growth. Ripened cheese is considered to be more
easily digested than the unripened product. The best that can be said
of this process is that the ripening of cheese is perhaps the least
objectionable of all processes of decomposition taking place in food
proteids. The only benefit that can be claimed is one of flavor, and, in
matters of flavor, the appetite for Limburger, and similar cheeses, is
at least a cultivated taste that furnishes evidence neither of merit nor
of nutrition.
In the manufacture of cheese, the milk, sugar, and a part of the albumin
and fat are wasted, and as there are no advantages in taking the milk
in this changed form, there exists no scientific reason for the use of
cheese when fresh milk can be obtained.