Tuesday 28 March 2017

Crunchy Cheese?

I am always on the look out for something a bit different to tickle our taste buds at The Towers to broaden our comestible horizons, so when I saw “Crunchy Cheese” on the supermarket shelves, it would have been rude not to purchase a pack for our experimental delectation.Crunchy CheeseAs soon as Darrell and Nigel laid eyes on it, the words “crunchy cheese!” echoed quizzically throughout our portals. Many questions sprang to mind and were asked. Nigel was positive that crunchy should mean really crunchy, so biting into it would surely be like biting into a Crunchie Bar.
CadburyI was a little more dubious.
Crunchy Cheese 1……. there was no audible crunch as I cut into it, it sliced just like normal cheese.
Crunchy Cheese 2Nigel was very disappointed, it failed to crunch like an aforementioned Crunchie, muttering that questions should be asked in Parliament.
crunchy cheese 3However, Darrell was a little more measured, the flavour, we all agreed, was very full bodied  and extra mature as described, and he said if he concentrated he could discern a very slight crunchy texture when he chewed, but couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was …….
So while I was still musing, Darrell decided to Google said crunchy cheese ….. and all was revealed, as Mr D would no doubt be able to confirm, the tiny little bits we could now all feel in our mouths as we chewed were tyrosine, “amino acid clusters that form with age” and looking at the packet, our cheese was indeed 15 years old (but thankfully, with no signs of green).  Tyrosine clusters are signs of a well-aged cheese, so all was now crystal clear!
Crunchy Cheese 6And how did we score on our Crunchy Cheese? Well, Nigel only gave it 2 out of 10, as he said that he had expected proper full-bodied and robust crunch, Darrell gave it 7, because he thought that  if we served it to someone who wasn’t as acknowledgeable as what we are, they might think we were giving them something that was a bit off …… I would give it 8 as it was very flavoursome, but wonder if it’s a bit too posh and mature for putting on cheese on toast?

4 comments:

Mr.D said...

I bow to your superior knowledge on the crystals in crunchy cheese.

I love a nice bit of mature cheddar but, sadly, it isn't easily available in Mexico.

PharmacyMichele said...

Crunchy Cheese...just doesn't sound right. I think I'm with Nigel on that one although I'm not sure I'd want a crunch with my cheese!

Michele

Dianne said...

the name Crunchy Cheese does raise questions.....if I found something crunchy in my cheese, I would be suspicious!.....suspect Nigel got it right; if the word Crunchy is in the name, it is only natural to expect definite crunchiness in each bite.....but alas, I am not a sophisticated cheese gourmet!....love your taste testing ,love you, Dianne

Anonymous said...

Oh I've had crunchy cheese before boyz, it has never been described as 'crunchy' but it def had crunchy bits in - and yes it was a very mature cheese. So thanks for the scientific bit - very interesting! You do write such an educational blog. JantheFan x