OT: What is parmesan cheese suppose to smell like!!??

[armomof3lvsdisney]

My DH's family calls it Dirty Socks. No kidding, when we have pizza or italian food for supper if I don't have on the table, he'll ask me if we have any Dirty Socks.

 

[Microcell]

HAHA! I thought the same thing and asked why a few years ago. It turns out that Parm and Vomit (and a few other things) have a common ingredient responsible for the foul odor: butyric acid.

Snip form the wikipedia entry:
Butyric acid, (from Greek βουτυρος = butter) IUPAC name n-Butanoic acid, or normal butyric acid, is a carboxylic acid with structural formula CH3CH2CH2-COOH. It is notably found in rancid butter, parmesan cheese, and vomit, and has an unpleasant odor and acrid taste, with a sweetish aftertaste (similar to ether). Butyric acid can be detected by mammals with good scent detection abilities (e.g., dogs) at 10 ppb, while humans can detect it in concentrations above 10 ppm.

I have to email that to my inlaws, they think it smells like baby puke!

 

[hugabearjo]

I am laughing so hard, I am so glad to know that my family isn't the only ones that call it stinky cheese. My ex husband started that and I thought ok but, we all call it that now. I am glad we aren't alone.

I too, am in the stinky feet camp. I love it on all kinds of things we have it on the table most nights.

 

[tiggr33]

I worked for a couple of years at the largest importer of Italian cheese in the US. Vomit is exactly what quality grated/shredded Parm is supposed to smell like (the cheap stuff in green cans doesn't count- most of that is parm like cheese). On days I was in the production plant ( I was an Inventory Manager) I would have to drive home with all my truck windows open to combat the smell. Once I stopped to pick up Chinese food on the way home, and the woman waiting next to me leaned over and said "eww I dont know if I want their food, it smells like someone got sick in here". Explaining to someone why you smell like vomit, is a lot harder then it sounds.

 

[Lorikr65]

Update: I ate the cheese and there were no ill affects!!!

Actually, after investigating further, it seems the vomit smell of the cheese transfers to other things in the frig. I had it on a plate cover with plastic wrap (which didn't cling too tightly). That plate was either on top of or under another plate that had left over chicken in it. I went to get the chicken and make chicken salad for lunch and thought it was bad. The chicken took on the vomit smell!! It actully smelled worse than the cheese!! I put them farther apart in the frig and when I checked later, the chicken didn't smell as bad and the pieces underneath didn't smell at all. We ate the chicken and are fine also!!

Lesson of the day: Don't put skinky cheese that isn't covered very tightly next to anything else in the frig!!

 

[Minnie824]

My DH will eat parmasan cheese in things, but he also does not like the smell of it at all. Whats funny is, my 2 year old will not eat pizza, so when we go out for pizza, she puts piles of the parmasan cheese on her plate and just eats it plain. haha DH just cringes with that one.