There’s a scientific reason behind the distinctly funky smells from cheese — it’s how microbes feed and communicate with each other. “What they’re saying has a lot to do with the delicious variety of flavors that cheese has to offer,” reads a statement from Tufts University, where the research was conducted. “The research team found that common bacteria essential to ripening cheese can sense and respond to compounds produced by fungi in the rind and released into the air, enhancing the growth of some species of bacteria over others. The composition of bacteria, yeast and fungi that make up the cheese microbiome is critical to flavor and quality of the cheese, so figuring out how that can be controlled or modified adds science to the art of cheese making.”
One of the authors of the study, Benjamin Wolfe, professor of biology at Tufts and TFA board member, said the research is noteworthy because “how these aromas impact the biology of the cheese microbiome had not been studied.” The findings will impact other fields, too.
Results were published in the journal Environmental Microbiology. The research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Read more (Tufts University)