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Competitive Milk Tasting: a how-to guide

If you’re an aspiring high school student looking for something to either pad your resume with OR if you’re looking for a rewarding career with very limited competition for a job opening (compared to other, more common offerings) – then has Web Watch have an option for you:

COMPETITIVE MILK TASTING

The Sensory Evaluation of Dairy Products
The Sensory Evaluation of Dairy Products

Yes, as anything can become a contest these days, so has COMPETITIVE MILK TASTING become a hit in rural and suburban America.

Students spend their evenings and weekends sniffing dairy products and judging them on their merits.

But since this is a home game that anyone can play, Web Watch thought it would be important to share with you the MILK TASTING RULES AND GUIDELINES for you to consider, so you too will know what the US government looks for when JUDGING MILK AND CHEESE PRODUCTS.

According to the USDA, there are five contributing factors to milk flavor:

  • the cow’s health
  • what the cow eats
  • bacteria in the cow
  • chemical changes
  • foreign flavors after the milk leaves the cow

There are also “official” bad flavors that any professional dairy taster would need to be on the lookout for when doing an official taste test of milk:

  • bitter
  • cooked
  • feed
  • flat/watery
  • foreign
  • garlic/onion flavor
  • high acidity
  • malty
  • metallic
  • musty
  • oxidized
  • rancid
  • salty
  • unclean
  • weedy

Want to go a little crazy at your next house party?  Put out a cheese platter with the following unmarked cheese samples, and challenge your guests to name each cheese.  Give 2 points for each correct guess, winner takes it all:

  • blue cheese
  • brick cheese
  • brie / Camembert
  • cheddar (mild)
  • cheddar (sharp)
  • colby
  • cream / neufchatel
  • edam / gouda
  • monterey / monterey jack
  • mozzarella
  • munster
  • processed American
  • provolone
  • swiss