Cheese!

I am reading a great book about cheese right now. The need for it came from my visits to the "Cheese Vault" at The Cheese Boutique. A vault that is seled like a bank vault, filled with the rarest and most expensive cheeses of the world. The smell inside that sealed chamber of heaven is like no other one in Toronto. Sensory bliss. I have only smelled such divine goodness once, at a Comte cheese farm in the Swiss alps. What heaven! There is a need for more now. Tash - you know the pleasures of the cheese vault. you understand. olfactory sanctionary... my nose loves you.

That crazy squirrel is going to take a picture. Look out! He is unrelated to this post except that he's cheesy.

This is from harpers, it's about cheese.

Quel Fromage!
Posted on Monday, January 16, 2006. From “Adapting a Lexicon for the Flavor Description of French Cheeses,” by Annlyse Rétiveau, Delores H. Chambers, and Emilien Esteve, in Food Quality and Preference. Originally from Harper's Magazine, July 2005.
Sources

Sweaty: sour, stale, somewhat cheesy aromatics reminiscent of perspiration-generated foot odor, found in unwashed gym socks and shoes

Goaty: pungent, musty, and somewhat sour, reminiscent of wet animal hair (fur)

Animalic: a combination of aromatics associated with farm animals and the inside of a barn

Musty/earthy: a slight musty aromatic associated with raw potatoes and damp humus

Musty/dry: aromatics associated with closed air spaces, such as attics and closets

Ashy/sooty: bark-like lingering aromatics associated with a cold campfire

Fermented: combination of sour aromatics associated with green vegetation, sauerkraut, soured hay, or composted grass

Green/herbaceous: fresh, green, slightly sour aromatics associated with green vegetables, newly cut vines, snap peas

Chemical: an aromatic associated with a broad range of compounds, which may or may not include chlorine, ammonia, aldehydes, etc.

Biting: a slight burning, prickling, and/or numbness of the tongue and/or mouth surface

Butyric: an aromatic that is sour and cheesy, reminiscent of baby vomit

This is Quel Fromage!, a reading, originally from July 2005, published Monday, January 16, 2006. It is part of Education, which is part of Readings, which is part of Harpers.org.