Why does cheese smell?

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Pass the cheese, please! Not all cheeses smell bad, but some tend to be more stinky than others. Cheese is made mostly from milk that has been processed in special ways, and it’s some of these processes that give different cheeses their specific smell.

For example, some cheeses are particularly smelly because they are made with mold. You might already know that mold is generally not a very good thing to eat (if you ever find food with mold on it, you should probably stay away), but there are certain kinds of molds that some cheeses are made from and these cheeses and their molds are okay to eat, even though they might smell icky. (Just check first with a grown-up that it’s the “good” kind of mold and not the “bad” kind.) Some examples of these cheeses include Roquefort and Gorgonzola. 

Other types of cheeses are made with vinegar, which is itself a pretty smelly food and definitely adds to the smell of the cheese it’s in! Some cheeses are also “aged” after they are made, which means they get tastier a little while after they’re first made and they aren’t meant to be eaten right away. Their smell (also sometimes called their “aroma”) usually gets a little stronger as they age for longer.

But even if a cheese is smelly, try a little piece! You may be surprised by what you find!!

Say “CHEESE”!