Observations on the Salting of Brick Cheese

Summary Brick cheese curd was made by a commonly used method and subjected to various salting treatments. Measurements of acidity, moisture and salt content were made at regular intervals and the cheese were graded. Salt penetrated the cheese quickly in the outer layer but eight weeks of curing elapsed before the salt content was practically uniform throughout the cheese. Long periods in the salt tank, highly concentrated brines, and early-salting increased the amount of salt in the cheese. Dry-salting was effective but not as uniform as brine-salting. Desirable results were obtained when the Brick cheese absorbed salt to the extent of approximately 2% of its total weight. Excessive salting caused hard, curdy body, unnatural white color, slow ripening, loss of yield, and delayed lactose fermentation; low salt encouraged abnormal fermentations and caused weak body and open texture.