Representing flavours

Trying to be systematic about flavours.

In my last post I wrote about flavours and different peoples' perceptions of them. One thing I didn't mention, but think is true: some people are better at identifying flavours than others. Some people seem naturally able to spot, for example, that Brie includes a cauliflower flavour, or that Gruyere contains a hint of pineapple. I have to confess, I'm not particularly good at this.

Still, I think that this it is a skill that improves with practice. So I am going to be more systematic in the way that I describe the flavours of the cheeses that feature in this blog, and I hope that, over time, these descriptions become more accurate and informative. Too many of them at the moment are not far off "Er, it's quite cheese-flavoured".

All the cheeses this week receive a more systematic description than those in previous posts. I hope the way I've presented the descriptions are self-explanatory. Click on any of the cheeses listed above for an example. You'll see that for each cheese, I have chosen some key flavours and given each one an intensity level from 1 to 5.

Furthermore if you click on a particular flavour, you will see all the cheeses which have that flavour. (Though this is rather incomplete at the moment, because I haven't provided these systematic description for many cheese yet.)

Published on May 13, 2017