Savoury and brothy
Deep, meaty umami: Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana, aged Gouda and Comte.
Savoury cheeses taste deep, brothy and meaty, the flavour the Japanese call umami. It comes mainly from glutamate, freed as proteins break down during long ripening, and it is strongest in Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano, aged Comté and Gouda, and old cheddars. A spoonful of grated Parmigiano does for a dish what stock does: it rounds and deepens everything around it.
Glutamate and age
Milk proteins hold glutamic acid bound up in long chains. As a cheese ages, enzymes cut the chains and release free glutamate, which tastes of umami. Parmigiano Reggiano has one of the highest levels of free glutamate of any common food, and the level rises with age. Peptides and other amino acids add brothy, meaty notes, and some amino acids collect as the white crystals in old wheels. Salt, which brings out umami, plays its part too.
Cooking with savoury cheese
Savoury cheeses are seasoning cheeses. Parmigiano and Grana finish risotto, pasta and soup, and their rinds simmer in stock. Comté and Gruyère deepen onion soup and gratins. A vegetarian kitchen can lean on these cheeses for the depth that meat stock gives elsewhere, but cooks who avoid animal rennet should check how a cheese is made: Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano are always made with calf rennet, while many similar hard cheeses use microbial rennet.
Beyond the grana
Savoury depth turns up in many places: in aged Mahón from Menorca, old Gouda, Switzerland's Sbrinz, the long-aged Bitto of the Valtellina, and the aged sheep's milk cheeses of the Pyrenees, such as Ossau-Iraty. Well-aged washed rinds have a meaty savour too. Pair these cheeses with good bread, a few drops of aged balsamic vinegar, dry sherry or a dark ale, which share their deep, rounded taste.
Worth knowing
- Parmigiano Reggiano: High in free glutamate
- Grana Padano: Grana of the Po valley
- Comté: Brothy when aged
- Gouda: Deep and savoury when old
- Sbrinz: Hard Swiss grating cheese
- Mahón: Menorcan cheese, savoury when aged
- Bitto: Alpine cheese of the Valtellina, aged for years
- Ossau-Iraty: Pyrenean sheep's milk cheese
Sources and further reading
Original text by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Savoury and brothy on EveryCheese
The cheeses written up so far, best known first.
🇬🇧 United KingdomStinking Bishop
A washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from Gloucestershire, ripened in perry.Cow · Semi-soft · Savoury and brothy
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandAppenzeller
A hard, washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from northeast Switzerland with a herbal brine rind.Cow · Hard · Nutty
🇫🇷 FranceLivarot
A soft Normandy cow's-milk cheese with a pungent orange rind wrapped in reed bands.Cow · Bloomy rind · Pungent and funky
🇫🇷 FranceÉpoisses
A pungent washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from Burgundy, rinsed in local brandy.Cow · Bloomy rind · Pungent and funky
🇫🇷 FranceLangres
A washed-rind cow's milk cheese from the Langres plateau in France.Cow · Bloomy rind · Savoury and brothy
🇫🇷 FranceSaint-NectaireSench-Nectari
A semi-soft washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from the volcanic Auvergne region of France.Cow · Semi-soft · Nutty
🇫🇷 FranceChevrotin
A soft, washed-rind goat cheese from the Savoy Alps with a reddish rind.Goat · Bloomy rind · Tangy and lactic
🇫🇷 FranceChaumesPalhas
A soft, washed-rind cow's milk cheese from the Périgord with a tangerine-orange rind.Cow · Bloomy rind · Savoury and brothy
🇨🇭 Switzerland and 1 moreVacherin Fribourgeois
A Swiss semi-hard washed-rind cheese from the canton of Fribourg with a resiny taste.Cow · Semi-hard · Tangy and lactic
🇫🇷 FranceVieux-Boulogne
A soft, beer-washed cow's milk cheese from northern France known for its intense aroma.Cow · Bloomy rind · Salty
🇮🇹 ItalySalvaSalva cremasco
A washed-rind cow's milk cheese from Lombardy, aged for several months.Cow · Washed rind · Savoury and brothy
🇷🇴 RomaniaNăsal
A smear-ripened cow's-milk cheese from Romania aged in a natural cave.Cow · Washed rind · Sweet and caramel
🇫🇷 FranceAisy cendré
A washed-rind cow's-milk cheese rolled in wood ash and aged for two weeks.Cow · Washed rind · Smoky
🇬🇧 United KingdomStinking Bishop
A washed-rind Gloucestershire cheese ripened in perry from the Stinking Bishop pear.Cow · Washed rind · Tangy and lactic
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Époisses: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Năsal: Vlad Trifa, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Saint-Nectaire: Homer Ectus, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Aisy cendré: Pierre-Yves Beaudouin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Chaumes: Robin dubois, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Stinking Bishop: Gilgongo, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Vacherin Fribourgeois: Tombat24, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chevrotin: Benoît Prieur, CC0, source
- Livarot: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Langres: Myrabella, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Appenzeller: Ulled, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Stinking Bishop: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, source