If you ever came to France, you probably tested (and tasted) some -- very good -- cheeses that you were unable to buy back at home because of some European or other international regulations. If you have been one of these daring travelers, you surely noticed that some of these cheeses smell strong. The Cranfield University in the UK decided to find what was the world’s whiffiest cheese. They used both human testers and an electronic nose consisting of a sensor array linked to a computer with specialized software. And the French cheese with the strongest smell is the 'Vieux Boulogne,' a relatively recent cheese from North of France, similar in taste with Boulette d'Avesnes or Maroilles. You can find this cheese -- and smell it -- in France or in London, but if you live elsewhere, forget about it. Read more.
Let's start with a basic introduction about the study.
Dr Stephen White, senior research officer Cranfield University led the study by using an electronic nose as well as a human olfactory panel to sniff out those with the strongest scent.
Fifteen cheeses were selected with the help of cheese experts in France and the UK and put through the smelly stakes. Dr Stephen White said: "The results suggest that electronic nose technology could be a useful tool for cheese characterisation, quality control and authenticity testing in the future. The smelliest cheeses were washed rind cheeses. There was no obvious correlation between the age of the selected cheeses and smelliness, nor type of milk origin, although cows’ milk cheeses did dominate the smell chart."
Before going further, here are some images of the brave testers.
Here you can see Steve White smelling some cheese in front of the electronic nose of his computer (Credit: Cranfield University).
And here is a picture of Sarah Morgan, also from the Institute of BioScience and Technology at Cranfield University, testing some Epoisses and Camembert, and apparently enjoying it (Credit: Cranfield University).
I don't want to bother you with the whole list. so here are the top three stinkiest French cheeses.
Upscale people are fixated with food simply because they are now able to eat so much of it without getting fat, and the reason they don’t get fat is that they maintain a profligate level of calorie expenditure. The very same people whose evenings begin with melted goat’s cheese ... get up at dawn to run, break for a mid-morning aerobics class, and watch the evening news while racing on a stationary bicycle.
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
Tops was Vieux Boulogne followed by Pont l’Evêque -- both washed rind cheeses, produced from the milk of cows raised on the lush, coastal pastures of Normandy.
Camembert de Normandie, the most widely imitated cheese in the world, was rated third. It has a natural rind and is best known for its creamy texture and mushroomy aroma.
The only shop selling the Vieux Boulogne in the UK is La Fromagerie in London. Here is what says the owner about this cheese.
Vieux Boulogne is a young, modern cheese with a surprisingly mellow and gentle taste that’s perfect served with some crusty bread and a beer. It’s a great cheese to try, as it doesn’t have the earthy, farmyardy flavours that some people find overpowering.
By the way, it's not the most expensive cheese in the world. It costs around £ 11 or €11 per kilogram.
But now, it's time to look in more details about the tests were held.
The cheeses were blind tested under controlled conditions. They were stored at 4°C overnight, then brought out of the fridge two hours before testing to be brought up to room temperature of 20°C.
The human olfactory group were given two hours (no conferring) to complete the test so that they could 'rest their noses’. They were asked to rate each cheese on a scale of smelly to least smelly and could smell the cheeses as many times as they wanted to, in any order, during the test period.
The electronic nose comprises a sensor array linked to a computer with sophisticated software. Each of the sensors responds to 'smell’ chemicals in a slightly different way. This response is interpreted by the machine’s software to provide a unique 'fingerprint’ aroma signal of the test item.
Let me finish by something very personal. The favorite cheese of my wife's mother, Mitzi, who lives in Monona, Wisconsin, is the 'Boulette d'Avesnes.' So here are my last words for today: Mitzi, I love you!
Sources: Cranfield University press release, November 26, 2004; and various websites
Related stories can be found in the following categories.
Food
France
Miscellaneous
Sensors.