Relations entre les caractéristiques de l'herbe et celles du fromage. Présentation et premiers résultats d'une étude pluridisciplinaire

Relationships between the characteristics of grass and those of cheese. Presentation and first results of a multi-disciplinary study

This paper describes the outline, goals, procedures, study sites, and analyses adopted in studying the relationships between grass (starting material), milk or cream (intermediate) and ripened Gruyère and L'Etivaz cheese (final product). This was particularly aimed at testing whether upland grass (having a diversified botanical composition) produced cheese with more flavour than lowland grass. Our study also focused on the particularities of upland cheese made by using open wood fires to heat the milk. Four production sites were included in this study during the summer of 1995, from the beginning of June until mid-September. Care was taken that the sites would be as similar as possible in their production methods (with the exception of milk heating) but differing in the botanical composition of the pastures. Two production sites were located between 1 300 and 2 100 m a.s.l., one at approximately 1 000 m and the fourth at approximately 600 m. At each site, the following observations were made, repeated about twelve times : a) the botanical composition of the pasture ; b) the chemical composition of the grass ; c) the chemical composition of the milk and cream ; d) the chemical composition of the ripened cheese, and e) the sensory properties of the ripened cheese. First results, particularly about the occurrence of volatile terpenoids in plants and in dairy products, are rapidly given. Most results are still being evaluated and will be the object of several forthcoming papers.