The general reputation of American cheese at home and abroad has also suffered from the extent of the manufacture of skim cheese, or half-skims. \Chile these are regarded as legitimate products, and, if well made, are highly nutritious, they should always lie plainly marked and sold for exactly what are. t'nlike the ripe and finely flavored Parmesan cheese, which is wade from skim milk, the American skims are gen erally that in flavor, hard, and horny. Several of the dairy States, notably New York and cousin. have passed laws authorizing the use of State brands on cheese made from whole milk, guaranteeing the quality of the cheese so brand ed. Canada has prohibited by the manufae ture of eifher skim-milk or filled cheese.
The cheese production of the Fnited States in the middle of the last century w'as about It)t1,000.11f10 pounds a year, and at its close about 31)0,000.0110 pounds, from 30.000,000 to 50,000, 000 pounds being exported. New l ork and \\'is ('onSin are the two principal eluc'sc-makilug States, the former• making nearly twice as much as the latter, and both together producing three fourths of the entire output of the country. I arm-made obcese has been almost entirely superseded by factory cheese. (See Cur,F:st. Fnc'rosv.) .\pprosimatelv. 1,000,000 pounds of cheese are annually imported into the 1 'nit ed States, nearly one-half earning from Switzerland (Schweitzer ahecse1. and 30 par pent. from Italy.
1•"ood l'alue.—In proportion to its Milk, cheese is a highily nutritive food, both as regards tis sue-forming material (protein) and as a source of pnergv (fuel val tie 1- 'Flue few digestion ex periments which have been made witli cheese in 'licate that the protein and fat in it are quite thoroughly digested. \\'ell-ripened eheese is
mare thoroughly digested than green elueese. As regards case of digestion, it appears that fat cheese, thorouglilv ripe cheese, or that whiehi is porous, is more quipklv digested than of her sorts. The distress which some persons experi ence after eating cheese may be due to a variety of valises. such as over-indulgence, especially at the end of a hearty meal, eating a concentrated loud without proper dilution with other foods. or insufficient mastication. There are undoubt edly some persons who cannot eat cheese, Ow ing to some personal idiosyncrasy not easily explained. just. as there are those who cannot eat st ra wl r r ies or some other bald. In general. it may be said that. cheese thoroughly deserves the reputation of being a nutritious and whole some food which it has had for centuries. Cheese is eaten alone. or combined with other food materials. The more highly flavored kinds are most commonly served at dessert and eaten in small quantities, while the mild sorts often re place to a considerable extent meat or other animal food, and constitute an important part of the meal. Occasionally cheese causes a severe, or even fatal, illness. This is clue to the growth of peculiar micro-organisms and the consequent production of poisonous substances called pto nmines (q.v.). But these are by no means con lined to cheese, and are likely to occur in many other highly nitrogenous foods.
For bean-cheese, or bean-curd. see Soy BEANS.