Gorgonzola.

The remarks made upon this cheese and its manufacture based upon a very careful and prolonged study of the subject, which page 59 was materially assisted by three visits to those districts of Italy where Gorgonzola is made, and where, with the assistance of some good authorities connected with agricultural instruction, I was enabled to learn a great deal about the process, from the milking and feeding of the cattle until the sale and despatch of the cheese to foreign markets. Sufficient, in fact, was learned to enable me to undertake the manufacture of the cheese in my own dairy, and to give demonstrations—one of which was witnessed by the Prince of Wales at the Bath and West of England Society's meeting—at some of the leading agricultural shows in England. There are two or three points of merit about the Gorgonzola cheese : it is popular, its sale is largely increasing in England, it can be sold at a reasonable price and yet pay a good profit to the maker. It does not require much milk to manufacture each pound of cheese as is the case with the Cheddar, it is by no means difficult to make, and neither the process nor the plant are costly. It is a round flat cheese, weighing about 12lb., and measuring 9in. in diameter by 5¼in. in height. It is made from new milk, but not necessarily from the richest milk; indeed, I learned that some of the makers declare their preference for milk of medium rather than that of rich quality—an excess of fat having, in their opinion, a bad effect upon the ripening of the cheese. When cut in halves the Gorgonzola shows the mouldy veins, which are less concentrated, and which ramify through the whole body of the cheese to a greater extent, than is the ease with the Stilton. At the same time there is more waste, because the crust, which is rather thick, is destroyed by the process of colouring; while the cheese itself, to the depth of ½in. from the crust, is of disagreeable flavour and odour, and is somewhat soapy, both from the nature of the curd which surrounds it differing from the curd in the interior and from the fact that the whole of the salting is performed through the crust. A properly-ripened Gorgonzola cheese should be covered with a red mould, this to some extent denoting its perfection; but, this being both difficult to obtain as well as to maintain, it has become the custom of the merchants who ripen the cheeses to colour them with a red colouring-matter before they are despatched to the markets. The cheese which is sent any distance is enveloped in a mat made of fine strips of wood which are sewn or held together with fine thread. In this way the sides are protected. The cheeses are then placed in deep baskets, the diameter of which is just sufficient to enable them to enter, and which generally hold about four.

The principal feature in the manufacture is in the temperature and humidity of the apartments in which the cheeses are made and ripened. The first apartment, in which the curd is obtained and the moulds filled, although necessarily clean and well arranged, need not, however, be so perfect in either respect; but the succeeding apartment, and especially that in which the ripening is conducted, must be as near perfection as possible. I know one large merchant, page 60 for example, who purchases numbers of raw white cheeses from the: makers, with the object of perfecting them for market. To this end he has constructed a cave or gallery in the side of a mountain. There are entrances at each end, and at one end is a waterfall, which Was the probable cause of the cave being constructed in the position. A draught is caused, and the humid air is carried through the cave in which the cheeses are placed. This is just what they require. At the same time there must not be too much humidity. If the Gorgonzola can be made in a country like Italy, where the heat excessive, and where it is found necessary to construct caves under-ground (and I have seen several of these large cheese-cellars), it would seem to be possible to make it in such a country as New Zealand, which presents many features calculated to be beneficial to a person engaged in this branch of business. I have, moreover, been able to produce very perfect specimens of the cheese in England; and, further, an American who stayed two months with me was able to return to his own country and to manufacture a large number with success—so much so that specially-arranged apartments have been erected for the manufacture of this and other varieties of cheese the various processes of which were taught in my own dairy. During the past few years, since Gorgonzola has become so popular in England, larger quantities have been made in Italy, and the prices have consequently fallen. Until within the last few years such a low price as 8½d. per pound was almost unknown. Gorgonzola cheese, however, is seldom sold below this figure, unless it is inferior, but it varies between 7½Jd. and 10d., while in the retail shops it is sold at from 9d. to 1s. 1d. per pound. There are numerous houses in London which import Gorgonzola largely, and I have more than once found that they receive the cheese before the blue mould has developed. When, however, it has commenced, and the conditions under which the cheese is kept are good, it rapidly spreads. It would be difficult to state whether or not makers in a new country could manufacture this cheese of a more even quality than the Italians; although, if they took the matter in hand, they could scarcely man it of less quality. There is every reason to find fault with the system which the Italians adopt—a system which can scarcely fail to cause them considerable loss. I refer to their uncleanliness as dairymen, and to the filthy nature of the cheese apartments and utensils, and, what is quite as bad, of the rennet which I have seen used in a general way in their dairies—it is a material which, in my opinion is unfit to come into contact with milk, and one which is certain to be very destructive to its properties.