HOW TO TASTE THE CHEESE: THE TACTILE SENSATIONS I MOUTH[
Another useful article on How to taste cheeses. We have seen every phase from the preparatory phase, to training of the palate, (READ MORE: “How to taste cheese in 8 rules” and “How to taste cheese: tricks and exercises”) passing through the tasting. We left the analysis of tactile sensations in the mouth and we want to conclude with a question: cheese crusts are eatable?
The tactile sensations in the mouth are those sensations that we feel and that do not concern flavor or aroma. In practice, the tactile sensation is what our mouth perceives with its sensitivity when it is in contact with a food: dry, rough, hard, grainy, these are to say the tactile sensations. Now let’s see in detail how this kind of sensory analysis is done and how it is important to understand something more about the cheese we eat.
The importance of tactile sensations in tasting cheeses
The analysis of the tactile sensations that we feel when chewing cheese is important to better define the structure of the cheese’s dough itself. The set of all tactile sesations in the mouth takes the name of palatability and helps to describe the texture of the product in taste. There are 12 tactile sensations to distinguish. Not a few, and each of them has very specific characteristics. Let’s see some:
- Hardness: consistency of raw carrot
- Solubility: consists in the ability of the product to dissolve in saliva, such as when eating a meringue
- Moisture: in a product without juices such as cheese, to recognize the humidity you have to take for example the egg white
- Friability: it is the attitude to crumble like crackers
- Elasticity: the ability to resume its shape after compression, like the Wurstel
- Granular: small granules spread throughout the product, such as when eating a ripe pear
- Adhesiveness: it is the tendency of a product to remain attached to the palate or to the tongue, like toffee
- Greasiness: Sensation of veiling of fat on the tongue and the palate, as when tasting butter
How to taste the cheeses: the taste of the crusts
We have already said that when we tastes a cheese, we have to start from the heart up to the sub-crust. This because the intensity of the olfactory taste grows as you get closer to the outside. But do the crusts eat? The answer is more articulated than you think. In fact the crusts, have some olfactory characteristics important and also pleasant.
The crust must be observed well. A treated crust, recognizable because covered by a protective film of different material from the curd, should not be eaten if not after careful scraping. If the crust is not treated, it is important to observe the molds that cover it. When the molds are green or blackish the crust is not eatable. You do not even eat when it has a pungent odor of ammonia or is excessively moist or oiled.
In all other cases the crust is eatable, after a brief cleaning. The advice we would like to give is to never eat the crust when you are not sure of the attention and the cleanliness of the production chain. In short, eating the crust is important and even enjoyable, but if you are not able to recognize the characteristics that make it edible or do not know the cheese production process, it is better to avoid it.
READ MORE:
How to taste cheeses? Second Step: touch
How to taste cheeses? Third step: the smell
How to taste cheese? Last Step: Savor
