+142. Ripened Neufchâtel, French process.+--Neufchâtel as a ripened cheese is made rather widely in France but it is produced on an especially large scale in Seine-Inferieure.[46] Some factories use whole milk, or milk with added cream, others skimmed-milk.[47] The whole-milk brands of Neufchâtel are those which have the widest reputation. For making this cheese, the working room is held as closely as possible at 15-16° C. (58-60° F.). The milk is strained into earthen vessels holding twenty liters. Rennet is added to the freshly drawn milk at about 30° C. (86° F.) in amount sufficient to produce coagulation in about twenty-four hours. Draining racks of various forms are covered with cloth. The vessels of curd are dumped upon the racks. The whey separates slowly and drains off through the cloth. About twelve hours are allowed for this process. The corners of the cloth are then brought together and folded in or tied and the mass pressed to complete the drainage. The finished curd is worked or kneaded to produce a smooth and uniform texture. This process of curd-making is essentially the same as the American factory process of making Neufchâtel. The ripening process has been entirely dropped in America. The curd is finally molded in metal forms 5 cm. (2 inches) in diameter and about 6.7 cm. (about 3 inches) high, open at both ends. These molds are filled, the freshly formed cheeses are pressed out with a plunger or piston and their surfaces smoothed with a wooden knife. After molding is completed, the cheeses are salted by sprinkling the entire surface with fine dry salt as the cheese is held in the hand. In this way each cheese receives and absorbs 3 to 4 per cent salt. After salting, the cheeses are arranged upon boards and allowed to drain twenty-four hours. They are then removed to the first or drying room. The frames of the drying room (secherie) are covered with straw and the cheeses are placed carefully upon the straw to avoid contact with each other. They are turned each day to present a fresh surface to the straw during a period of two to three weeks in the drying room (secherie). Mold begins to show as white cottony mycelium after five to six days, and slowly turns to "blue" (bluish green). When the cheeses are well covered with this moldy rind, they are removed to the ripening cellar. In the ripening cellar also the cheeses stand upon straw. They are turned over every three or four days at first, then allowed to stand for a longer period.