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Cheese (WHEN milk is coagulated)

WHEN milk is coagulated by rennet, or some other acid, it separates into solid curd, and liquid whey (or serum). If the solid parts are collected, and pressed together in a mould, hoop, or vat, they unite to form firm Cheese. Other substances will serve to curdle milk in a like manner, such as the "Bedstraw" (Galium, from gala, milk), a hedgerow plant; also the juice of the fig-tree. Parenthetically the curative virtues of the common hedgerow Galium aparine (goose-grass, cleavers, or hedgeheriff) which are specially present in this herb, and its allies, should certainly be told about. They are of undoubted reputation with reference to cancerous growths, and tumours of a kindred nature. For open cancers an ointment is made from the leaves, and stems, with which to dress the ulcerated parts, and at the same time the expressed juice of the fresh herb is given internally. On analysis this plant is found to contain three distinct acidsthe tannic acid (of galls), the citric acid (of lemons), and its own peculiar rubichloric acid. Considered generally, the Goose-grass exercises acid, astringent, and diuretic effects, being remedial therefore against such diseases of the skin as lepra, psoriasis, and eczema, whilst remarkably helpful in some cases of epilepsy. An authorized officinal juice of the herb is dispensed by druggists, as well as a thickened extract; or, this Goose-grass may be readily gathered fresh about most of our rural fields, and waste places, in which it grows luxuriantly, climbing with boldness by its slender, hairy stems through the dense vegetation of our hedges into open daylight, whilst having sharp, serrated leaves, and producing small, white flowers "pearking on the tops of the sprigs." The stalks and leaves are armed with little hooked bristles with which they attach themselves to adjacent shrubs so as to ascend in ladder-like fashion. The botanical affix 66 aparine" is derived from a Greek verb, "apairo," to lay hold of. Dr. Quinlan, of Dublin, directs that whilst a bundle of ten, or twelve stalks is grasped with the left hand, this bundle should be cut into pieces of about half-an-inch long by a pair of scissors held in the right hand. The segments are then to be bruised thoroughly in a mortar, and applied in the mass as a poultice beneath a bandage. The goose-grass has been employed thus with highly successful results to heal chronic ulcers on the legs. Appellations of "Cheese-rennet " and "Cheese-running" are given to its order of herbs. Highlanders make use in particular of the common Yellow Bedstraw (Galium verum) for curdling their milk to get Cheese, and to colour it; this grows abundantly on dry banks, chiefly near the sea; from its small golden flowers is prepared an ointment "good," says Gerarde, "for anointing the weary traveller." This herb is par excellence the Bedstraw of "Our Lady," who gave birth to her divine Son, says the legend, in a stable, with wild flowers only for the bedding. Thus in an old Latin hymn she sings right gloriously :- "Lectum stravi tibi soli: dormi, nate bellule !

Stravi lectum fœno molle: dormi, mi animule!

Ne quid desit sternam rosis: sternam fænum violis, Pavimentum hyacinthis, et præsepe liliis." "Sleep, sweet little babe on the bed I have spread thee: Sleep, fond little life, on the straw scattered o'er ! 'Mid the petals of roses and pansies I've laid thee, In crib of white lilies: blue bells on the floor."

Pure milk, when curdled by rennet, leaves most of its fat in the Cheese (casein, or curd, as in Cheddar Cheese); but if some of the cream is first removed from the milk by skimming, then a Cheese is produced which is poor in fat, like Dutch Cheese. Good Cheese is composed of from 30 to 50 per cent of water, 20 to 25 per cent of casein, or curd, 18 to 30 per cent of fat, and 4 to 6 per cent of mineral matter. If, again, the curd is precipitated by letting the milk become sour, or if by adding vinegar to it, then a comparatively poor Cheese is the result. Also the nature of the Cheese will depend much on the kind of milk used. When the casein, or curd, is squeezed, and pressed so as to remove the liquid whey, if high pressure is used then hard Cheese is made; if lower pressure is employed, then a soft Cheese is produced, but not of a sort which keeps well. The next step is to ripen the Cheese, a process dependent on bacterial life introduced from without, either spontaneously, or by design, the flavour of the Cheese being determined by the particular species of germ which obtains access to it whilst it ripens. The mineral matters contained in Cheese are chiefly salts of lime, and some Cheeses contain further about 2 per cent of milk sugar (lactose). The infiltration of plentiful fat comprised in Cheese makes it always an article of diet not easily dealt with by delicate stomachs, especially when animal food is likewise eaten. The incorporated fat (which is not miscible with the gastric juices) prevents digestive juices reaching the curd thoroughly, so that Cheese should be carefully masticated in order to finely divide its substance before swallowing the same ; or, another plan is to grate the Cheese before eating it, or to dissolve it in a little water or milk, (perhaps adding a few grains of alkaline potash to assist the solution). Another reason why Cheese proves indigestible to certain persons, is that during the process of ripening, small quantities of fatty acids are produced, which are apt to disagree in the stomach; but when once reaching the intestines, Cheese is absorbed as readily, and as completely as meat. To the person who wishes to use Cheese as a substitute for meat (because more economical, and fully as nourishing), the Canadian, or Dutch quality may be best commended, preferably the former; and new Cheese is much to be advocated, before fermentation has begun to any degree of progress. But Cheese should not be eaten at all freely by persons who are leading inactive, indolent lives, since the substantial casein, which is its chief constituent, would to such persons be difficult of digestion; otherwise its component principles furnish fat, heat, and energy to a remarkable degree.

The average palate has been taught to relish Cheese after it has undergone butyric acid fermentation (which is, in fact, the first stage of putridity). But years ago, when the small dairymen made plain Cheese for their own use, not for the market, they began to eat it before it was a fortnight old, and took it as freely as they did bread, never dreaming of its proving difficult of digestion, which it never was. Nowadays, to put such simply compressed casein before the lover of modern-cured Cheese, would be to him almost an insult; and yet from the standpoint of health, it is the only Cheese which can be altogether approved; though equal praise may be given to the fresh curd, consisting of unaltered albumin of milk, in combination with some fat, a little milk sugar, and some lactic acid. The numerous varieties of mature Cheese are products altered more or less to a degree proportionate with their stage of ripeness. Some soft Cheeses ripen in a week or two; others, of firmer consistence, take many months to mature. Parmesan Cheese, made at Parma, in Northern Italy, from skimmed milk of special cows, and coloured greenish with saffron, is a hard article which requires three years to ripen. Whilst contained in fresh milk the casein, which forms the substantial basis of Cheese, exists in two forms, the soluble, and the insoluble; in the first of these it remains completely dissolved in the milk, whilst in the latter it is made by art to coagulate as insoluble Cheese, but carrying with it the fatty matter, or cream. The coagulation from the soluble to the insoluble form by rennet becomes produced rather mysteriously. The milk sugar is probably changed into lactic acid, which then serves to coagulate the milk-casein. A similar coagulation takes place within the stomach by the acid gastric juice, when milk is had as food. The casein of fresh milk contains more nutritious material than any other food which is ordinarily to be obtained, except that the mineral salts which have been dissolved in the whey are left behind. Cooked casein is more digestible than the raw substance as we for the most part eat it in Cheese, junket, or curds; but its heated preparations are unknown to our kitchens except as Welsh Rabbit (rare-bit), which is an indigestible dish as generally made. 66 "Here comes the practical question, Can we assimilate, or convert into our bodily substance, the Cheese food as easily as we can flesh food?" "I reply" (says Mattieu Williams) we certainly cannot if the Cheese is raw, but I have no doubt we may do so if it be suitably cooked." The Swiss make, as one of their plainest and commonest dishes, a Cheese fondu, of eggs, and grated Cheese, with a little new milk, or butter, and cooked in the condition of a paste; or else with slices of bread soaked in a batter of eggs and milk, and covered with grated Cheese, being then gently baked; by some persons the bread-crumb is likewise grated. In such fashion is concocted the "Cheese pudding" of the Swiss, who gain the mineral salts lacking in their Cheese by their accompanying salads of fresh vegetable substances rich in potash salts. Mattieu Williams adds : "The following is a simplified recipe of my own: Take a quarter of a pound of grated Cheese, add to it a teacupful of milk, in which is dissolved as much powdered bicarbonate of potash as will stand on the surface of a threepenny piece; also add mustard, and pepper to taste; heat this carefully until the Cheese is completely dissolved; then beat up three eggs (yolks and whites together), and add them to this solution of Cheese, stirring the whole. Now take a shallow metal, or earthenware dish, or tray, which will bear heating, put a little butter on it, and heat the butter until it frizzles; next pour the mixture into the tray, and bake, or fry it until it is nearly solidified. The bicarbonate of potash is an original novelty which may possibly alarm some readers averse to medicinal agents, but its harmless use is to be advocated for two reasons: First, it effects 'a better solution of the Cheese curd, or casein, by neutralizing the free lactic acid which inevitably exists in the milk beforehand, as well as any other free acids which are present in the Cheese; and the second reason is of greater weight: salts of potash are essential for mankind as necessary constituents of his food; they exist abundantly in all kinds of wholesome vegetables, and fruits, and in the juices of fresh meats, but they are wanting in Cheese, having, because of their greater solubility, been left behind in the whey. This absence of potash seems to me to be the one serious objection to a free use of Cheese diet exclusively." Cheese, says an old adage, digests everything but itself, -" Caseus est nequam : digerit omnia sequam."

Quite lately casein, the proteid, or chiefly nutritious part of milk, has been separated in the powder form, dry, as Plasmon, this being devoid of water, fat and sugar, but also of such potash salts as remain dissolved in the liquid portion of the milk (unless evaporated out, and added again). The Plasmon, or pure casein, is obtained from skim milk, and is intended for addition to other foods, to increase their stock of proteid. It is the product of separated milk, as a fine white powder, being literally Cheese without its fat and its milk sugar, nothing remaining practically except pure casein, or flesh-forming material, utilizable with obvious advantage for many combinations. Dr. Robert Hutchison recently, in an address on Patent Foods delivered to the S.W. London Medical Society, whilst passing a sweeping condemnation on most of these as costly, and unequal to plain ordinary foods, went on to add encomiums on one class of such foods in which the casein, or proteid of milk has been separated in its integrity, for being added to enrich other foods as to their sum of proteid. "I think," he concludes, one may say that these are among the most useful of all artificial foods. There is no doubt that preparations of the kind can be added in very large amount to ordinary foods, such as soups, and milk, and even to some solid foods with great benefit, and without the sick person being aware of such addition; and, seeing that these preparations certainly contain 80 or 90 per cent of pure proteid, it can be well understood that the amount of nutritive material which they are the means of supplying is considerable. I know of no special indications necessitating their use, but there are many conditions of disease where one wants to enrich a fluid diet. If a patient is on pure milk, and you desire to increase 66 S