The Relation of the Hydrogen-ion Concentration to the Texture of Emmenthal or Swiss Cheese

The object of the work described herein was the determination of the relation of the march of hydrogen-ion concentration in Emmenthal or Swiss cheese to the texture. In this research differences in the proteolysis and the moisture of the cheese were correlated with the above factors. For the purpose of comparative study variations were produced by the use of two starters, the ga starter, a bulgaricus organism with a mycoderm, and the 39a starter, an old strain of Lactobacillus bulgar@us. Orla-Jensen (1) has studied the influence of the degree of acidity upon the consistency and ripening process of Emmenthal cheese and this work will be referred to later. Boekhout and Ott de Vries (2) found that an excessive amount of free lactic acid was the direct cause of brittle texture in the Edam cheese. Van Dam's (3) researches on Edam cheese indicated that the texture was a phenomenon of colloidal chemistry, and that an excess of hydrogen ions also produced a hard and brittle texture. He also found that the progress of ripening was dependent upon the proportion of acid present. Leiteh (4) who worked with English Cheddar cheese stated that the degree of acidification of the curd was the factor which exercised the greatest control over the texture of the cured cheese. In an investigation of Cheddar cheese Van Slyke and Hart (5) found that excess acid produced a dry, harsh, and hard texture and that cheese having the most moisture generally contained the largest amounts of soluble nitrogen.