When the Committee got together with Kobus to taste the various cheeses up for awards, Valerie Elder of The Real Cheese had some interesting advice on how to taste:

The palate is a somewhat fickle medium as there are so many aspects to take into consideration – one of the main ones is that food or drink will taste very different at the start of the day from how it will taste at the end. This is because everything you consume influences and affects your taste buds. Take care when you eat garlic first thing in the morning – it may be there for the rest of the day!

In designing a cheese selection, for example, items chosen would be much lighter at lunch than at dinner when other factors such as wine matching and possibly heavier foods are to be balanced.

To taste, bring your other senses into play. Sight and smell start the process and could influence your overall impression quite decidedly even before tasting. The tongue has sensitive areas for certain tastes: sweet and salty at the front, bitter at the back and sour or sharp along the sides. Put a morsel in your mouth and allow the flavour to express itself before swallowing. The taste that will come from the follow-through after swallowing may be different to the mouth feel. Balance those flavours to achieve the overall taste. In some instances the nose will give a stronger ‘taste’ than the actual mouth response.

To keep a clean, balanced palate drink water frequently and eat stronger items after lighter ones. Smoking affects taste buds greatly and smokers and non smokers will experience different tastes.

In looking for cheese for the Slow Awards, many factors are taken into consideration over and above the taste. Texture, appearance and presentation all play a part. A farm may be just starting and show remarkable promise with no particular item specified, or an individual cheese may be seen as remarkable but not everything produced by the farm. Passion is a huge component in making quality farm cheese and cheese made without passion has no heart to share with the consumer!

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