Commercial protection requires several kinds of analysis.
TO PROTECT THEIR CAMEMBERTS and other raw milk cheeses against legislation that would prohibit the use of raw milk in fabrication, countries such as France must demonstrate the gastronomic superiority of these cheeses by comparison with ones made from pasteurized milk. To do this they must perform a detailed comparison of the chemical composition, texture, and aroma of the different types, which will take quite a while. In the meantime, the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique and the Comité Interprofessionnel du Gruyère de Comté, in collaboration with food research institutes elsewhere in Europe, have been analyzing cheese with the aid of a very efficient system: human beings.
The chemical analysis of cheeses, as by chromatography, often is insufficient. As a device for detecting trace amounts of molecular compounds, which sometimes are aromatically preponderant, the human nose has no rival. Nor are measurements of mechanical properties very helpful in characterizing certain cheeses that are pasty, crumbly, and heterogeneous.
On the other hand, tasting—an essentially subjective activity—integrates various pieces of sensory information that human beings sometimes have a hard time dissociating. A group of experts in the sensory analysis of cheeses, assembled under the auspices of a European Union program called Food Link Agro-Industrial Research (FLAIR), has sought to set standards for the training of tasting juries and to define norms for characterizing hard and semihard cheeses. Six cheeses awarded a protected designation of origin were tested: Comté (from the French Jura), Beaufort (from the French Savoie), Parmagiano-Reggiano and Fontina (Italy), Mahon (Spain), and Appenzeller (Switzerland).
The Texture of Cheeses
The texture of cheese is a crucial property, as anyone who has eaten a chalky Camembert or a rubbery Gruyère knows. Unlike the organoleptic qualities of shortbread biscuits, gum arabic candies, or puffed cocktail crackers, those of cheeses cannot be described in terms of a single textural characteristic, for the flavor of a cheese depends in complex ways on its overall texture.
The European laboratories participating in the FLAIR study evaluated the texture of the six selected cheeses by comparing their superficial, mechanical, and geometric characteristics in addition to various sensations they produce in the mouth. To specify perceptions and intensities, the researchers characterized the samples in terms of a reference class of basic textures associated with a particular kind of apple, a cracker, a banana peel, and so on.
In the 1960s American food researchers proposed a general classification of the textural properties of foods, but the study of cheeses has since shown it to be inadequate. Which sensory characteristics must be considered in order to define the texture of a food? And how can they be systematically recognized? Specialists in sensory analysis have devised a range of methods for evaluating products: analysis by untrained judges, by trained judges on the basis of predetermined categories, and by trained judges using intuitive criteria. The attempt to establish international norms required a strict methodology. The protocol finally chosen involved predetermined categories with trained judges conducting blindfold tests.
Sensory evaluation consisted of the following steps: looking at the sample, touching it, chewing it, deforming it, and shaping it into a ball before swallowing. Because the overall assessment of texture was to be made with reference to surface, mechanical, geometric, and other objective measurements, each phase of tasting was classified under one of these four categories. The intensity of each sensation was evaluated on a scale of 1 to 7, with a minimum of three basic textures serving as points of reference. Tasting was done at a temperature of 16°C (61°F).
Parallelepipedal slices of cheese having an area of 150 square centimeters (about 24 square inches) and a thickness of 2 centimeters (about three-quarters of an inch) were visually inspected to assess the smoothness of their surfaces and the presence of any openings, tears, crystalline deposits, and droplets of water or oil. Tactile information regarding superficial quality was collected next: Samples were put on a plate, and the judges ran their index fingers over each slice to feel the grain and the degree of moistness. Mechanical characteristics were noted by examining strips 1.5 cm (about half an inch) wide and 5–8 cm (about 2–3 inches) long that had been cut along the grain of the cheese. The judges then evaluated elasticity (by pressing down with the thumb), firmness (by gently pressing down with the teeth), deformability (the maximum deformation achieved before breaking), friability, and adhesivity. Finally, geometric characteristics related to the shape, size, and nature of the particles perceived in the course of chewing (sandiness, granularity, fibrousness, and so on) were analyzed, along with other textural characteristics resulting from complex and residual perceptions such as solubility, impression of humidity (dry or moist), and astringency.
Cultural References
The products used as bases for comparison in evaluating all these characteristics were chosen because they are readily available in European countries and because, in the case of prepared dishes, they are simple to make using standardized procedures. For example, roughness was determined by comparison with the outer surfaces of a Granny Smith apple, a banana peel, a ladyfinger, and a Breton cake; solubility was determined by comparison with a long madeleine, a cooked egg yolk, and a small meringue; and so on.
In the case of hard and semihard cheeses, further study will be needed to examine correlations between sensory descriptions of texture and mechanical and biochemical analyses. New European Union research programs have been proposed for soft cheeses, for there remains a great deal to learn about the reasons for the distinctive character of raw milk products. However, Camembert is not included in these programs, for lack of a commercial sponsor (in Europe the costs of such research fall on industry). For the moment, then, Camembert’s superiority is a fact only in the minds of connoisseurs.