A is for 'Animalic'

That's one of 31 terms making up a new list describing French cheese flavors.

A team of food researchers at Kansas State University's Sensory Analysis Center has just come out with a brief dictionary of French cheese descriptions.

The flavor guide was published last month in the online journal Food Quality and Preference.

The results had been presented in 2003 at a Chicago symposium on taste and smell.

An expert panel came up with 31 descriptions to convey the smell, taste and feel of 43 cheeses.

They then rated the intensity of each description on a 15-point scale.

Liz Szabo wrote about the work in this past Monday's USA Today.

Oh, yeah: "animalic" means "associated with farm animals and the inside of a barn."

B is for "Butyric": "reminiscent of baby vomit."

Yum.

Then there's "Goaty": "wet animal hair."

And "Sweaty": "perpiration-generated foot odor found in unwashed gym socks and shoes."

Huh.

And to think I thought that was just some fine cheese I had laying around....