Could someone describe a "sharp" taste to me?

Post Reply New Topic

I often hear cheese being described as having a 'sharp' taste but I don't understand what that means. I have never eaten cheese so it doesn't make sense to me. Can anyone describe 'sharp' for me, or perhaps provide non-cheese examples of 'sharp' food that I might try for myself? Thanks!

The taste of cheese varies wildly. Some are soft and nice; others make you feel like you’re tasting the sweat of the animal they came from.

Go chew on a lemon, that,s pretty sharp, maybe only surpassed by a lime.
I love eating lemons and people wonder how I can do it as it is so sharp.
Describing cheese as sharp will only be relative to other cheese that's smother, no cheese will be sharp like a lemon.

I would never bite on a lime. That is way too sharp.

What about a Lime flavoured Chewit?

Oh yes! Mouth watering. Very sharp but edible.

I love Chewits me.

Have you got a packet on you Nambo?

Oh, your so rude, but yes, though I don't like to brag about it.

So . . . back to my question: which one of those is "sharp?" It sounds as if you are describing cheese in general.

Nambo and babybird: is sharp then the same as sour, or un-smooth? Some Scotch is definitely un-smooth; might that be described as sharp too? And what the heck is a Chewit?! I really need to broaden my repertoire!

Sharp isn't the same as sour, but sour things are very sharp I would say.
Maybe sharp refers to the feeling of a taste rather than just the taste, for instance, chocolate is rather smooth, but if you get some 90% chocolate, it is possibly sharp in comparison.

Look at the following definition of sharp and apply such to food http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sharp

hehe...

Re: Cheeses...
Using cheddar for comparison, a "mild" cheddar is mellow flavoured (but way better tasting than American) and works well in grilled cheese sandwiches, Welsh rarebits, and maccheroni dishes. A "sharp" cheddar generally leaves a tingly feel on my tongue and has a much noticeably stronger flavour. I believe the difference has something to do with aging, but I generally would reserve sharp cheddar for something like Mexican meals where it complements other spicy components like red chili or enchilada sauce. Sharp also does well on burgers when using spicy or smoky barbeque sauce.
In our house we usually just opt for "medium" cheddar in our meal preparations, unless there's some big sale on, as "sharp" tends to cost up to $1 more a pound over mild or medium. A package like this

usually runs $8-9 in my area.

I think Cheshire cheese is more sharper than Cheddar.

It's more crumblier as well and in my humble opinion much more nicer.

That's what brought me here in the first place! I had looked it up already and still didn't understand because the only food examples where things I'd never eaten.

Your comment about it being more of feeling than a taste does make sense though. Thanks!

The best way to tell is to taste both mild cheese and sharp cheese at about the same time.

Mild cheese, to me, taste more like cheese. Sharp cheese tastes like a stronger cheese.

The only cheese worth eating in my opinion is sharp cheddar. I honestly can't describe "sharp" other then telling you to go to a cheese market and ask for a sample. I guess you can say "sharp" is sour-tangy, salty-sour-tangy?? It has a sort of "bite" to it??? But then you might ask me to describe sour-tangy or salty-sour. This can go on all day!! - just stop by a market somewhere and have some culinary fun. You might even try out the local supermarket as well, some have specialty displays, especially around holidays. They'll cut you a slice of a cheese that's considered sharp. Post back and let everyone know how your cheese hunt went. Also note, low-fat and non-fat doesn't do cheeses justice at all. You'll need to sample cheese that is 100% cheese. If you don't want to ask for a slice, you can buy Cracker Barrel Aged Reserve Cheddar and do a tongue test. It's as sharp as my mother-in-law's tongue. And that's sharp. I'd swear she sharpens it often.

I don't care for sharp cheeses. Cheddar cheese can be mild to sharp, depending on how long it's been aged. I prefer it nice and mild and not like a knife.