The microbes that give cheddar cheese its distinct flavour

Cheddar cheese’s distinct but often subtle flavour comes down to interactions between different bacteria, which cheese-makers could utilise to create a specific taste

By Chen Ly

21 December 2023

Cheddar cheese is often creamy and nutty, but can also have fruity and even meaty notes

Julian Eales/Alamy

The nutty, creamy flavour of cheddar cheese varies slightly according to a delicate balance of bacteria, which has now been identified by scientists. Understanding how these bacteria interact could help cheese-makers achieve the specific flavour they are aiming to create or even lead to computer simulations that formulate starter cultures with the correct balance of microorganisms.

All fermented food and drinks – including cheese, kimchi and kombucha – rely on complex interactions between microorganisms. To make cheese specifically, starter cultures are added to milk to kick-start fermentation and acidify the dairy, leading to a slightly tangy taste.

Cheese-makers have long known that some of the key bacteria involved in this process are Streptococcus thermophilus and types of Lactococcus, but little was known about how these interact and if those interactions influence a cheese’s flavour.

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Chrats Melkonian at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and his colleagues focused on cheddar as it is one of the world’s most popular cheeses.

They produced different cheese samples using four starter culture variations. One came from industrial producers of such starters and contained both S. thermophilus and types of Lactococcus, mainly the species L. lactis and its subspecies L. cremoris. The others were made by the researchers and contained either the same bacteria as before, no S. thermophilus or no types of Lactococcus.