Sampling a cheese is a real encounter. As in all encounters, we learn about it by our sensory organs. Appearance, texture, smell and taste are going to put into play vision, touch, hearing and the senses of smell and taste (nose, tongue, mouth).

These smell and taste qualities are mainly composed of :

 flavour : sensation registered by the tongue which includes 4 kinds : sweet, savoury, acid, bitter ;
 smell : recognised by “sniffing” the volatile substances of a cheese ;
 aroma : perceptible by the nose, interiorly, when the cheese is in the mouth. It is obtained when masticating and mixing the cheese with saliva up to the point when the aromas are freed and rise up towards the nose on contact with the air.

If being able to describe the aromatic richness of a Comté was impossible before 1990 because of the lack of an adapted vocabulary, a group of 6 researchers worked for three years in the context of a European programme (AR2039) so as to ultimately establish a list of 7 faroma families : lactic, vegetable, fruit, floral, empyreal (roasted), animal, spicy plus “others”.

These families are themselves composed of sub-families, followed by aromas, such as straw, hazelnuts, lemon, caramel, leather, mint, soap, pepper, burnt or even yoghurt. According to the reference schedules, 75 to 91 aromas have in this way been identified, and are used as « descriptors ».

To identify the pepper in a Swiss gruyère, or the apple aroma in an Emmenthal is certainly not that easy …

And yet Comté cheese on its own includes more than 80 aromas, such as hazelnut, grilled almond, boiled milk, coffee, butter, grapefruit, brioche, soft caramel ; or even meat broth, leather and cowshed.

Morbier will also have fresh milk tendencies, together with acidy milk, grilled grains, cattle, rancid, vegetables.

A piece of Beaufort can have a distinct pineapple taste, and Gouda can seem slightly garlicky …A Vacherin will be marked by aa balsam aroma , due to the spruce which surrounds it, while a Brie has echoes of “damp wood”, milk and fungi.

Cut grass and acidy milk can be discovered in an Epoisses. Nutmeg and fresh cream nestles in an Appenzell.

Of course, dozens of factors are at play in this or that aroma : the refining process, season, animal fodder, region, environment, the milk in itself.

Each piece of cheese is in itself unique, individually composed of its multiple aromas, but also of its texture, aspect, savours, persistence, its history…

It’s up to us to discover the intrinsic richness of each tomme or piece, and to create the indispensable symbiosis between cheese and taster so as to fully appreciate its intimate universe.

Bon voyage…

Xavier Bourgon et Maya Marin, January the 12th - 2007 .

Sources :

Guide d’évaluation olfacto-gustative des fromages à pâte dure ou mi-dure ( F. Berodier, P. Lavanchy, M. Zannoni, J. Casals, L. Herrero, C. Adamo ; ed.GECOTEFT 1997)

http://www.inra.fr/sia2002/2_1arome_fromage.html http://adminsrv.admin.ch/fam/en/Publikationen/finfo388.pdf http://www.pays-denhaut.ch/produits/degustation1.html