Nutty flavor ages cheddar seasoning

Prepared Foods, July, 1992

No make cheese flavors really taste like cheese, put your faith in a "nutty" background. So recommends Larry Nichols, vice president for sales and marketing for Commercial Creamery Co. (Spokane, Wash.).

The idea began when a customer approached Commercial Creamery with a request for a cheese flavor that would work on a multi-grain snack, explains Nichols.

"We tried all kinds of cheese favors, but couldn't find anything that worked well," he says, until one researcher took a 5-year-old white cheddar, dried it into powder form, and tested it as a flavor base. The result had a very nutty background flavor. It was the technical breakthrough that yielded Commercial Creamery's Cheddar Nut flavor.

"The key to the project was the aged, nutty and buttery quality that people associate with Swiss, Provolone, Parmesan and other |adult' cheese flavors," says Nichols.

Adults appear to prefer the more robust, "meatier" flavors of aged cheeses. Cheddar nut's flavor profile is distinct from that of the "young" cheeses children prefer, such as American cheese or cream cheese, which are characterized by fresh, "milky" top-notes.

An added benefit is that the Cheddar Nut flavor components are more heat-stable than those of "young" cheeses. This gives the flavors excellent potential for use beyond snack applications, such as in pizza doughs and breadsticks, or in cooked soups and sauces such as Alfredo sauces.

It also can boost the flavor impact of Parmesan or Romano cheeses in Italian sauce applications, suggests Nichols. Another application is processed cheese, where the flavor will enhance the flavor quality and impact of cheese balls or spreads.

Cheddar Nut flavor is a good place to start, but "we will modify the flavors to suit our customers' specific needs," says Nichols.