Why Does Cheese Taste
Better as it Ages?
This is a question I have wondered for quite a while now. How can something taste better as it ages? Meat certainly doesn't taste better as it ages. Old meat is tough and stringy, riddled with diseases such as salmonella or E-coli. Old bread doesn't taste better. It becomes brittle, moldy, and the taste just seems to leave. Milk curdles as it ages and becomes sour. Grape juice becomes intoxicating (gross!). Water has no effects added if it ages. Now, I'm sure some sort of science is behind this, but I don't really care. I will look up the science when I want to, but for now, I will rant on Why Does Cheese Taste Better as it Ages?
Now, I have no real problem with the taste improving over time. In fact, I love great-tasting cheese! Why would anyone hate anything that tastes better if you leave it alone? No, it is not the fact that it tastes better, it's the fact that TIME makes cheese taste better.
Now, before any one you cheese-lovers start pelting me with your wadded-up, spitball comments and posts, please know that I know that some cheeses don't taste better with age. However, I am going with the general information that cheese tastes better as it ages. Also, I don't want your comments on the scientific process on why cheese tastes better as it ages. What do I look like, a scientist?
I have two or more opinions (I just can't give you all the information, now can I? Where would be the fun?) on why cheese tastes better as it ages, and NONE of it has ANYTHING to do with science. I will spare no cheese's feelings as I go around and point my fingers in wild directions. Be forewarned: this page does not get any prettier.
Now, I have no real problem with the taste improving over time. In fact, I love great-tasting cheese! Why would anyone hate anything that tastes better if you leave it alone? No, it is not the fact that it tastes better, it's the fact that TIME makes cheese taste better.
Now, before any one you cheese-lovers start pelting me with your wadded-up, spitball comments and posts, please know that I know that some cheeses don't taste better with age. However, I am going with the general information that cheese tastes better as it ages. Also, I don't want your comments on the scientific process on why cheese tastes better as it ages. What do I look like, a scientist?
I have two or more opinions (I just can't give you all the information, now can I? Where would be the fun?) on why cheese tastes better as it ages, and NONE of it has ANYTHING to do with science. I will spare no cheese's feelings as I go around and point my fingers in wild directions. Be forewarned: this page does not get any prettier.
First, I want to say that cheese tastes better as it ages because it WANTS to! Yes, that is right, cheese wants to be different. You see, many ages ago (pun intended), cheese was just like all other foods, bland, poorly made, and tasted worse as it aged. Hey, it's just like school food! But I digress. Cheese was just part of the crowd. However, it longed for something different. It longed for the unthinkable: tasting better as it ages. Witches could not conjure up this wish. No contract with the devil could make this black magic happen. But, humans can! Humans found a way to add stuff to the cheese to make it taste better and last longer. Then, they found out something. If they left cheese in a dark, cool cave, it could be preserved and taste better as it aged! It was a modern miracle! Cheese became different, like it always wanted.
Second, cheese it just that cool. Cheese is the guy-wearing-sunglasses of the food world. They have a world of flavor and personality. They have different types, each with their own taste and style. Only cheese can single-handedly, with only the help of time, taste better as it ages. Cucumbers need juice. Cheese can do it all by themselves. You can't tell cheese what it can and can't do. Cheese is its own man!
Now, for a more real answer: man needed something that required no preservatives to last and still taste wonderful. We have plenty of food, but most of it can't last more than four days in the swelling heat of the summer's air. Meat spoils fast. Bread hardens and becomes stale. Cheese is the only one that stays soft, moist, and more delicious as it lasts.
Cheese NEEDS to last long. If cheese couldn't last a long time, then what would all those cheese-addicts have to talk about? What would happen to those chunks left over in the food storage? What would happen to the industry! Obviously, cheese needs to last long, and the better taste is just an added bonus!
Well, I guess that concludes my rant on Why Does Cheese Taste Better as it Ages? I hope you enjoyed it, and have a nice day. Go out there and shake a slice of cheese's hand for once, okay?
Second, cheese it just that cool. Cheese is the guy-wearing-sunglasses of the food world. They have a world of flavor and personality. They have different types, each with their own taste and style. Only cheese can single-handedly, with only the help of time, taste better as it ages. Cucumbers need juice. Cheese can do it all by themselves. You can't tell cheese what it can and can't do. Cheese is its own man!
Now, for a more real answer: man needed something that required no preservatives to last and still taste wonderful. We have plenty of food, but most of it can't last more than four days in the swelling heat of the summer's air. Meat spoils fast. Bread hardens and becomes stale. Cheese is the only one that stays soft, moist, and more delicious as it lasts.
Cheese NEEDS to last long. If cheese couldn't last a long time, then what would all those cheese-addicts have to talk about? What would happen to those chunks left over in the food storage? What would happen to the industry! Obviously, cheese needs to last long, and the better taste is just an added bonus!
Well, I guess that concludes my rant on Why Does Cheese Taste Better as it Ages? I hope you enjoyed it, and have a nice day. Go out there and shake a slice of cheese's hand for once, okay?
4/2/12