Tips for Tasting from Antonelli's Cheese Shop (Austin, TX)
Tips for Tasting
Summer in Austin, Texas is sluggish; yes, we love this place but none of us can ignore the heavy blanket of heat that envelops our bodies as we step outside the house. Thus, we have no other option but to embrace it! As we pondered topics for this week's cheese "lesson," (and, admittedly our brain function has seemed to slow drastically as well!), we realized it's a perfect time to all slow down and write about tasting - truly experiencing - cheese. If you've taken our cheese class before, then you know that we always start off with our "guidelines for tasting." After all, you've got to court a cheese to get to know it intimately. Until this courtship becomes second nature to you, we recommend following these tasting tips.
First, visually explore your cheese. Look at the color which may give clues about the style of cheese and milk type. Look also at the rind, texture, and other distinguishing marks (like the presence of "eyes" or holes). This will tell you a good deal about the cheese and what to expect. Second, touch it. Again, notice the texture. Is it sticky? Soft? Chalky? Does it bend before it breaks? Is it sweating? As you discover new characteristics about the cheese, you'll begin salivating. Third, smell the cheese. If it's a firmer cheese, break it under your nose and inhale the aroma. Does it smell lactic? Or like browned butter? Perhaps the softer cheeses smell like fresh asparagus or mushrooms. Then, taste the cheese. Hold on! Don't just chomp and swallow! If you've followed us up until here, then your body heat has already warmed the cheese some between your fingers. Also, allow it time to warm on your tongue. This will release even more flavors and aromas. As the cheese sits on your palate and you begin to chew and move it around your mouth, breathe out your nose. Your nose can pick up thousands more aromas and flavor memories than your taste buds alone can and you'll instantly be transported to a previous time in life when you...insert memory here... As you chew, listen; this will reveal more about the texture of the cheese. After all, a squeaky cheese curd isn't the same if it doesn't squeak! Take note of what the cheese tastes like as it initially hits your palate, then as it develops, and lastly, how it finishes. Once you've swallowed it, what flavors are still there? Do they just end, a brief flicker in time? Or do the flavors linger and stick around, refusing to let you forget them?
To get to know a cheese, you need to experience it, which goes beyond the superficial level of just eating it. Let all your senses enjoy the cheese, which will ultimately make it that much more gratifying. When fall comes back, we'll all be busy rushing to work, school, other activities and summer provides the ripe time for relaxing into a good meal. So again, we challenge you to embrace the heat, sit down with a new cheese (and a good, crisp beverage), and slowly and deliberately get to know it by going through your five senses: look, touch, smell, taste, and listen. In the end, you'll be so intimately acquainted with your new cheese, you won't even notice the weather.
Summer in Austin, Texas is sluggish; yes, we love this place but none of us can ignore the heavy blanket of heat that envelops our bodies as we step outside the house. Thus, we have no other option but to embrace it! As we pondered topics for this week's cheese "lesson," (and, admittedly our brain function has seemed to slow drastically as well!), we realized it's a perfect time to all slow down and write about tasting - truly experiencing - cheese. If you've taken our cheese class before, then you know that we always start off with our "guidelines for tasting." After all, you've got to court a cheese to get to know it intimately. Until this courtship becomes second nature to you, we recommend following these tasting tips.
First, visually explore your cheese. Look at the color which may give clues about the style of cheese and milk type. Look also at the rind, texture, and other distinguishing marks (like the presence of "eyes" or holes). This will tell you a good deal about the cheese and what to expect. Second, touch it. Again, notice the texture. Is it sticky? Soft? Chalky? Does it bend before it breaks? Is it sweating? As you discover new characteristics about the cheese, you'll begin salivating. Third, smell the cheese. If it's a firmer cheese, break it under your nose and inhale the aroma. Does it smell lactic? Or like browned butter? Perhaps the softer cheeses smell like fresh asparagus or mushrooms. Then, taste the cheese. Hold on! Don't just chomp and swallow! If you've followed us up until here, then your body heat has already warmed the cheese some between your fingers. Also, allow it time to warm on your tongue. This will release even more flavors and aromas. As the cheese sits on your palate and you begin to chew and move it around your mouth, breathe out your nose. Your nose can pick up thousands more aromas and flavor memories than your taste buds alone can and you'll instantly be transported to a previous time in life when you...insert memory here... As you chew, listen; this will reveal more about the texture of the cheese. After all, a squeaky cheese curd isn't the same if it doesn't squeak! Take note of what the cheese tastes like as it initially hits your palate, then as it develops, and lastly, how it finishes. Once you've swallowed it, what flavors are still there? Do they just end, a brief flicker in time? Or do the flavors linger and stick around, refusing to let you forget them?
To get to know a cheese, you need to experience it, which goes beyond the superficial level of just eating it. Let all your senses enjoy the cheese, which will ultimately make it that much more gratifying. When fall comes back, we'll all be busy rushing to work, school, other activities and summer provides the ripe time for relaxing into a good meal. So again, we challenge you to embrace the heat, sit down with a new cheese (and a good, crisp beverage), and slowly and deliberately get to know it by going through your five senses: look, touch, smell, taste, and listen. In the end, you'll be so intimately acquainted with your new cheese, you won't even notice the weather.