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The relative contributions of taste and aroma to the perception of cheese flavour intensity were investigated using a simultaneous gustometer olfactometer. Within a mixture of five tastes and a multicomponent aroma that had a mature Cheddar cheese character, the levels of NaCl, monosodium glutamate (MSG), lactic acid, and aroma were varied according to a 24 full factorial design, all with appropriate controls. NaCl, lactic acid, and aroma significantly contributed to cheese flavour intensity while MSG did not. The contribution of NaCl, lactic acid, and aroma revealed their potential to enhance cheese flavour intensity. These variables were able to compensate each other towards cheese flavour intensity. Changing the levels of taste and aroma together influenced the cheese flavour intensity greater than changing the levels of a single taste or aroma only. Variation in tastant concentration had a larger effect on cheese flavour intensity than did aroma.

The taste of cheese contributes to flavour character directly and by cross-modal interactions with aroma. However, the relative contribution of specific tastes, i.e., sweet, salt, umami, sour, and bitter, is not well understood. Twelve cheeses were profiled by a trained sensory panel and the five tastes shown to significantly differ in intensity. Sucrose, NaCl, monosodium glutamate, lactic acid, and caffeine were mixed in water and adjusted using a 25-1 fractional factorial design (FFD) to reconstruct cheese taste; the optimised construct was compared with a Cheddar cheese to measure similarity for each taste type. The FFD provided knowledge of taste-taste interactions and aided the reconstruction of the taste profile of Cheddar cheese in solution. The reconstructed cheese solution did not significantly differ in overall intensity, saltiness, sourness, umami, and bitterness from the Cheddar cheese based on chi-squared tests. Sweetness was a difficult attribute to adjust due to its relatively low intensity.