The Challenge of Professional Cheese-tasting

Despite my immersive involvement in the wine industry, which features almost daily tastings of an expansive variety of wines, my palate was utterly unprepared for the sensorial onslaught from a mighty array of South African cheeses. This observation hit home when I stepped in as one of over 100 judges at this year’s South African Dairy Championships, tasked with feeling, sniffing and tasting some of the country’s best cheesy offerings.

The first observation made upon arriving at the Eensgezind venue in Durbanville where the judging took place in February this year was the immense variety and number of cheeses available in South Africa. A typical cheese lover exposed to the shelves of Woolworths, Checkers, Pick n Pay, and Spar, would have no idea of the multitude of cheeses being produced throughout the entire country. Rows upon rows of cheeses in every conceivable colour, size, and shape stood waiting for the judges, and the visual assault was only surpassed by the familiar headily pungent, earthy aroma of cheese that hung in the room like a fragrant cloud. Here, I thought, things could only get deliciously delightful.

As an avid cheese lover, my stomach immediately growled at the prospect of so much tastiness in such abundance before me: snow-white balls of Mozzarella, pale yellow wheels of Brie, chunks of golden Cheddar, creamy blue cheeses streaked with green-blue veins, wheels of Gouda and Boerenkaas, bowls brimming with fragrant cream cheeses, and so on.

But with about 80 cheeses to taste, even a greedy gourmand like me knew that the focus would have to be on tasting, not indulging. Every sport or hobby has its injuries, and excessive cheese tasting is guaranteed to lead to some kind of painful gallbladder attack or another internal ailment with unpleasant symptoms of a possible projectile nature.

Like wine tasting, cheese is judged by looking at and smelling it, then placing the stuff in one’s mouth. I also gave each piece a firm squish between thumb and forefinger, which, besides making me look like a true cheese boffin, gave me an idea of the cheese’s texture. Camembert should – as my neighbour’s willing spouse always says – neither be too hard nor too soft, and Cheddar should preferably not leave a greasy film when handled, as such a trait could be considered consumer-unfriendly.

Smell and texture are important, but much like wine, the majority of the assessment of cheese occurs in the mouth. To do this, I cut a wedge from the cheese in question -Camembert kicked-off proceedings – and placed it between my tongue and palate. Once the natural heat of the mouth began to soften the cheese, I pressed the stuff with my tongue against the roof, after which the Camembert melted and spread throughout my tasting orifice – which is important. The palate has certain areas where specific flavours are more strongly detected than others, so the cheese must cover as large a portion of the mouth as possible.

With wine, this is all very easy since the liquid fills the entire mouth. But with cheese, you need to work it around the mouth to unlock all the flavours, after which those flavour nuances must be analysed by the sensorial-detecting parts of the brain. It is challenging oral work, trust me.

The judge’s duty is then to assign a score out of 30 to the specific cheese and prepare to scrutinise the next cheese. But what to do with the already tasted cheese lingering in your mouth? As mentioned, swallowing this portion of cheese and the following 79 clods of dairy could lead to despair, physical discomfort and intense projective vomiting.

For this, the cheese tasting room has tables bearing paper cups, the kind in which one buys takeaway Ricoffy from the corner store. The purpose of the cup is to catch the chewed, pulpy cheese that you as a judge have tasted so that the rich, creamy food does not have to be swallowed.

Compared to wine tasting, this is an unflattering affair. With wine, you simply spit it into the container in a neat stream. However, the chewed, slimy ball of cheese in your cheeks makes for a messy situation, as the slimy dairy lump must be regurgitated into the paper cup. This action is devoid of dignity, especially when a few wet strands of Brie stick to your upper lip while a fellow judge tries to strike up a conversation with a strip of regurgitated full-cream Cottage cheese attached to her chin.

Another challenge is keeping your palate refreshed between tasting the various cheeses, especially the strongly flavoured ones such as Cheddar, washed-rind and blue cheese. During a wine tasting, a sip of water after every four or five tastings is enough to cleanse the tasting tools. This is not the case with a strong 18-month-old Cheddar or a hard sheep’s milk cheese. Those flavours cling stubbornly inside your mouth, the very reason those cheeses are such delightful things to eat.

So, the Granny Smith apple is, in my opinion, the cheese judge’s best friend. The green apples are spread throughout the room, and each tasting of a strong cheese is followed by a thin slice of apple, the cool tart flavour swiftly removing the lingering cheese taste and sharpening the judge’s tools for the next batch.

Despite the cool professional obligations associated with tasting cheeses for the SA Dairy Awards, there was more than enough space to make a few subjective observations.

As mentioned, the South African cheese scene is vast, diverse, and includes many truly delicious cheeses. I certainly have no idea which producer’s cheese I was tasting, but the mature Cheddar cheese category was outstanding, the blues were subtly creamy with the right salty-mould flavour characteristic of blue cheeses, and there were sheep’s milk cheeses that could hold their own against those from Spain and France. There were also some great Goudas, especially the more aged ones with their bright orange sheen.

With such cheeses to complement the offerings of the local wine industry, South Africa’s reputation as a true gourmet country is stronger than ever, and it is only going to get better. This country can do many things, and it particularly knows what good taste is.