The ripened soft cheeses include a series of groups of varieties which, in addition to initial souring, have been subjected to special ripening processes, and which in the ripened condition are soft in texture and mostly have high flavors. The varieties in each group have in common some essential principles of manufacture together with a ripening process dominated by a characteristic group of organisms. In certain groups, the ripening is dominated by a yellowish or orange viscid surface slime containing _Oidium lactis_ and bacteria; in another series, the characteristic organism is a mold of the genus Penicillium (_P. Camemberti_). Referring to the analysis of groups (page 83), the ripened soft cheeses are found to fall into three well-marked groups, one of which may perhaps be subdivided as indicated. The series curdled by souring alone begins with approximately cottage cheese curd and develops high flavors by ripening, as in "hand" cheese. Ripened Neufchâtel curdled by souring and rennet together finds its basis in Neufchâtel curd also but modifies the final product until the familiar flavor and texture of the unripened form are no longer recognizable. Among the forms curdled by rennet alone the Camembert series contains one form, Coulommiers, which is occasionally used unripe, but represents in general a mold-ripened group of highly flavored forms. The series of soft rennet cheeses ripened by bacteria may be broadly designated the Limburger group. +139. Hand cheese and its allies.+--Among skim cheeses, there is a series of forms largely German in origin in which curd not far removed from cottage cheese is the basis of the product. Harz cheese is one of the best-known of these forms as studied by Eckles and Rahn.[42] One of these forms, hand cheese,[43] is manufactured on a commercial basis in farm dairies among families of German descent principally in Pennsylvania, and on a factory basis in a few places in New York, northern Illinois and Wisconsin. On the small scale, curd is made by natural souring or by use of starter, heated to expel water, cooled and molded by hand into cakes two to three inches in diameter and one-half to three-quarters inch in thickness. The freshly formed cakes are placed upon a shelf to dry. There they are turned daily until fairly firm, then packed in rolls into wooden boxes and ripened in a cool damp room. In this ripening there is a prompt development of a heavy viscous slime, which consists of Oidium and bacteria. Other molds forming loose cottony mycelium are brushed off if they appear. The proper consistency of this slimy covering depends on a close adjustment of water-content in the cheese with temperature and relative humidity in the ripening room. If conditions are too dry, the cheeses harden quickly or if less dry they are attacked by green or blue-green molds. If too wet, the slimy covering becomes too soft and watery, or secondarily covered with loose shimmering masses of mold (Mucor sp.).