Cheese tasting: instruction for use

Cheese tasting: what to pay attention

Have you ever wondered what are the criteria to be followed in aware  tasting of this delicious product? Well, today we’ll try together to clarify our ideas. The first element to consider in the cheese tasting, is temperature. In fact, the first care that we should have, is to consume the cheese only in its ambient temperature, this will allow us to fully enjoy its aroma, flavor and all that determines the taste.  That clarified, let’s start with the first step:

The Cut: As regards the choice of the knife with which we will create our tasting portions, you should use:
• a narrow, thin blade for soft cheeses.
• wide and thick blades with hard cheeses.
• the classic almond knife instead, with cheeses with a coarse grain (such as Grana or Parmigiano but also Pecorino Stagionato).

Almond Knife

Storage: the cheese’s portions that we created, can be stored in the fridge, the foresight to respect is to keep separated and stored the slices within the wax paper. The seasoned cheese can be stored within a cotton cloth, in the lower part of the refrigerator. It is also useful remember to not keep the cheese next to foods that may alter the flavors and smells.

Sensory analysis: during the cheese tasting it will then be appropriate to observe the shape, the dimensions and the characteristics of the crust of our beloved product.
The crust informs us about processing characteristics:
• the flowering crusts are characterized by the presence of mold on the surface
• washed crusts characterize matured cheeses washing the crust with serum, brine, oil or alcohol;
• the smooth crusts, wrinkled or canestrate depending on the container in which was placed the curd to give the shape to the cheese.

Sensory analysis: during the tasting of cheese it’s appropriate to observe the shape, the dimensions and the characteristics of the crust of our product.
The crust informs us about processing characteristics:
• the flowering crusts are characterized by the presence of mold on the surface
• washed crusts characterize matured cheeses washing the crust with serum, brine, oil or alcohol;
• the smooth, wrinkled or “canestrate” (like a basket) crusts depending on the container in which was placed the curd to give the shape to the cheese.

In the photo: goat cheese with rind, caciotta “canestrata” with crust and Taleggio DOP washed rind.

The rind of a cheese, must be free of cracks or fissures, clean, if it has the mold, this must have a uniform distribution and color.

The color, when it presents a homogeneous color and graduate shades is a positive signal about the quality of the product. The nuances, which determine the aging of the cheese, if they go from golden to straw yellow indicate a fairly long aging. Light colors, instead, are typical of short aging and goat and sheep cheeses.

Examination of the paste: the color depends on the type of milk and on the feeding of livestock. In general, the goat and ovine cheeses have a light color. Very mature cheeses generally have more intense colors with shades, from pale yellow to golden. The consistency of the paste is examined by touch: it can be soft, semi-hard or hard, elastic, grainy, oily, dry, etc.

The unghiatura is the part below the crust, which usually takes on a darker color, and is more often evident in aged cheeses. Must be present but not too thick and clear.

The holes is the presence of small holes in the crust, caused by fermentations that are typical in certain cheeses but represent defects in the other: it is good that is distributed regularly, with homogeneous size of the holes.

From top left: Grana hard cheese, fresh soft cheese Gorgonzola, Ragusano DOP spun paste and Pecorino Sardo semi-hard cheese.

The olfactory analysis is the most complex among the sensorial analysis during the cheese tasting. The main families of odors related to the cheese are:
• lactic smells (fresh milk, sour milk, boiled milk, yogurt, butter, cream, etc.);
• vegetal aromas (grass, moss, hay, etc.);
• smells spicy (pepper, nutmeg, saffron, cloves, etc.);
• floral odors;
• toasted smells (chocolate, caramel, vanilla, burned, smoked, etc.);
• animal odors (barn, leather, animal hair, etc.).
The time to dedicate to this stage goes from 10 to 30 seconds, but is possible to stop it as soon as you feel the security of having caught the distinctive smell. Once identified the overall smell of cheese, heavy or light, you need to browse the cheese according to their aromas as vegetal scents, floral or various spices. If you perceive a smell that is close to that of ammonia, we have a cheese that has far exceeded the threshold of seasoning.

Taste-olfactory test
The tastes that our palate can recognize are: sweet, salty, spicy, sour, bitter and astringent.
The aromas, or the olfactory sensations returning retro-nasally, will be similar to perfumes perceived by smell but modified, made more complex.
The taste and olfactory sensations are represented by the duration of flavor, which can vary from a few seconds up to 30 seconds.
Finally, we will evaluate the consistency in the mouth, which can be tough, elastic, deformable, fine, grainy, chewy, etc.
Now we just have to prepare a mixed platter and start our cheese tasting. Good taste!