Developing a lexicon for the flavor description of French cheeses

General lexicons have been developed to describe the flavor of cheese; however, no terminology was found that describes specifically the flavor of French cheese. The objective of this study was to determine a general lexicon for French cheese. Five highly trained descriptive sensory panelists characterized the flavors of a wide variety (n = 43) of natural French cheeses. Cheeses selected for testing varied in milk source, regional origin, processing method, and maturation time. After reviewing previously published terminology for cheese, the panelists established terminology for aroma and flavor attributes. The 31 attributes that were needed to completely describe the 43 cheeses can be classified into seven categories: fundamental tastes, dairy aromatics, fatty acid/animal, musty/fungal, aged/fermented, mouthfeelings, and other aromatics. Many of these terms were found in published general cheese lexicons, but some are new attributes specific to French cheese.