Taste dimensions in cheese
Taste dimensions are individual, separately ratable properties of a cheese. Five of them are the basic tastes the tongue itself tells apart. Two describe what you do not taste but feel in the mouth. Two summarise the overall impression. Delikaasy records these nine on a scale from 1 to 10.
The nine rating dimensions at Delikaasy
Seven of the nine describe what can be perceived separately in the mouth: the five basic tastes and two values for mouthfeel and texture. Each is rated on its own for every cheese, because only recorded separately can taste be compared at all. The last two, intensity and ripeness, are more general and summarise what the seven produced one by one.
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The five basic tastes
Sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami are the five qualities the tongue has its own receptors for. Everything else we call taste is, strictly speaking, smell. These five are rated separately for every cheese, because only their distribution makes one variety distinguishable from another.
Sweetness
No sweetnessVery sweetMilk sugar and long ripening bring it out. Feta shows no trace of it, a ripe Alpine cheese a clear, almost caramel-like one.Roughly like Camembert.
Saltiness
UnsaltedVery saltySalt comes from the brine bath and from ripening. Fresh cheese barely needs any, Feta ripens in brine and carries it openly.Roughly like Butterkäse.
Acidity
No acidityVery tangyThe fresh, lemony edge from lactic fermentation. In a ripened Alpine cheese it has gone, in a young goat's cheese it leads.Roughly like Emmentaler.
Bitterness
Not bitterVery bitterAn edge note, usually from rind and long ripening. Butterkäse has none, the rind of a long-aged wheel carries it clearly.Roughly like young Gouda.
Umami
Not savouryVery savouryThe savoury depth that ripening draws out of the protein. Mozzarella does not have it yet, an aged Gouda has little else.Roughly like Edam.
Mouthfeel and texture
In sensory analysis this is a category of its own alongside taste. It covers everything that arrives through pressure and touch while chewing, from a crumbly break to a flowing paste. Moisture belongs here too: whether a cheese stays dry or feels juicy.
Creaminess
CrumblyCreamyHow the paste behaves under pressure. Feta breaks into pieces, a ripe Camembert runs.Roughly like Edam.
Juiciness
DryJuicyMoisture as the mouth reads it. In sensory analysis this belongs to mouthfeel, not taste. Parmesan gives up nothing, Mozzarella drips.Roughly like Emmentaler.
Overall impression and ripeness
These two values name no single property but summarise. Intensity says how strongly a cheese comes across overall, regardless of direction. Ripeness says how far the ripening has come on the palate, and is therefore given last, from everything together.
Intensity
MildIntenseHow loudly a cheese speaks, regardless of direction. Butterkäse stays in the background, Limburger fills the room.Roughly like Edam.
Maturity
FreshFully ripenedHow far the ripening has come on the palate, not how long it took. Fresh cheese stands at the beginning, aged Gouda at the other end.Roughly like young Gouda.
How to taste them
A tasting always follows the same order, and it does not begin with taste. First the eye: rind, colour of the paste, holes. Then the hand, because a piece of cheese reveals under pressure whether it is firm, elastic or soft. Then the nose, before the first bite. Only then the mouth, and there too separately: what the tongue reports as basic taste, and what the nose adds while you chew. Last the finish, meaning whatever still lingers after swallowing.
For the nine scales that means: saltiness, sweetness, acidity, bitterness and umami you taste on the tongue. Creaminess and juiciness you feel; they are not taste. Intensity and ripeness you judge last, from everything together. Working in this order yields steadier judgements than looking for everything at once.
Why nine instead of one rating
A rating says whether a cheese was liked. It does not say why. Two varieties can both get five stars and still have nothing in common: one mild and creamy, the other strongly aged and salty. If you were looking for the first and got the second, five stars were no help at all.
Nine values therefore answer a different question than a rating does. Not how good, but what of. That can be compared, and what can be compared can be recommended: if it is known that you like acidity and avoid bitterness, you can be pointed to varieties you have never heard of. What the nine do not cover is aroma, meaning nutty, mushroomy or hay. That is perceived not by the tongue but by the nose while chewing.
What a scale measures, and what it does not
Every number here is an impression, not a measurement. Salt content can be determined in milligrams, saltiness cannot: it depends on temperature, on fat content and on what you ate beforehand. That is why the single assessment does not count, but the fact that many of them converge on the same picture.
And nobody has to fill in all nine. If you cannot taste a property, leave the slider where it is, because a guessed middle is worse than no answer. From what you taste and rate, your own profile takes shape over time.
Finding cheese by taste
Most cheese is bought by name: you take again what you already know. A taste profile turns that around. Once it is clear that you like acidity, avoid bitterness and prefer it creamy, that is what can be searched for instead of a name. Delikaasy compares your profile with the profiles of the varieties and suggests what fits.
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