To those of us who harbor fond memories of Cracker Barrel on Triscuits during cocktail hour at grandma’s house, the taste of sharpness is quite familiar. For some (yours truly included), it’s enough to trigger a Proustian madeleine moment. When it comes to cheese, “sharp” refers to intense, strong, focused and distinct flavor profiles. Most cheese eaters have their own sense of it, yet there is no agreed-upon definition, even from the USDA.
Nowadays Cracker Barrel is churned out courtesy of the French conglomerate Lactalis, which acquired the sagging brand from Kraft in 2021. It has several quality, all-natural, supermarket competitors, notably Cabot and Tillamook, all of which are labeled and marketed by degrees of sharpness. Since “sharp” is used mostly to position these mass-market block cheddars, producers and purveyors of high-end cheeses shy away from it.
Says Tillamook cheese grader and product director Jill Allen, “Since there are no U.S. standards, it’s up to the producers to understand their own product and how it best fits into the terminology. What is medium? What is sharp? For us, it’s a compilation. It’s about working all our technical descriptors into ‘fanciful’ or marketing terms.”
Comprising numerous flavors and aromas, sharpness is first and foremost lip-smacking sourness or tang built on a solid foundation of salty and bittersweet notes. At its mouthwatering max, it delivers a satisfying bite, stopping short of off-puttingly bitter or salty. “It’s what most people think of as acidity or sourness plus all the other complex flavors that go into it,” says Cabot senior cheese grader Craig Gile.
Sharpness is also largely a matter of intensity, which is a result of aging whereby the cheeses dehydrate and their flavors concentrate. Generally speaking, the older a cheese, the sharper it gets. The Cabots and Tillamooks of the world focus more on predictably and consistently eliciting the five fundamental flavors of the tongue—sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. With age, cheeses in both the mass-market and artisan/farmstead categories add various aromas, many of which contribute to sharpness. Artisan producers welcome more variability in striving for that added complexity.
At Tillamook, which produces about 200 million pounds of cheese annually, each batch is graded at 60 days. Those hitting their pumpkin moment are labeled Medium and readied for shipping. The rest are designated for further aging—that is, to eventually earn the labels Sharp or Extra Sharp.
Using a proprietary algorithm, Allen and her team note attributes including 18 flavors, among them nutty, creamy, grassy and floral; various textures (firm, fracturable, springy, etc.); and even auditory ones such as squeaky and crunchy. Cabot, with about 130 million pounds per annum, takes a similar approach.
Like “juicy” or “smooth” for a wine, “sharp” is a warm and fuzzy, if somewhat vague, invitation for consumers to “give it a try.” Personal preferences and regional tastes enter prominently into the equation. The latter are reflected in the more savory, traditional English-style cheddars prevalent in the Northeastern U.S. versus our Midwesterners, which tend toward sweet-and-tangy with fruity notes.
Cheddars, by the way, aren’t the only cheeses capable of delivering the multitude of flavors and aromas adding up to sharpness; the most famous others are the Italian provolones, Pecorino Romanos and similar types. With some sulfury bite and the funk of organic decay, they’re often labeled piccante (spicy). The graders’ technical term for this is “throat catch,” which is that stimulating pricklish tingle at the very back and bottom of the tongue—another of the many manifestations of sharpness.
Blue cheeses—strong and salty with degrees of bitter and/or spicy bite—are another genre that can represent sharpness, though they’re not marketed as such. For comparison to the cheddars and Italians, we’ve included a modern American classic blue in this tasting.
David Gibbons is co-author of Mastering Cheese.
Tasting “Sharp”
Asiago d’Allevo ($11.50 for 8 ounces, murrayscheese.com) Smooth and relatively mild in salt and bitterness, with some lactic ferment and ripe fruit, this Northern Italian nevertheless offers a welcome bite.
Buonatavola Provolone ($9 for 8 ounces, murrayscheese.com) Medium on a sharpness scale, it builds to a zingy mouthfeel but with moderating umami and sweetness.
Cabot Cheddars ($4.99 for 8-ounce Deli Bars, cabotcreamery.com) Progressing from Sharp (9 months) to Seriously Sharp (18 months), the Cabots offer more salt and tang, some underlying bitterness and emerging complexity.
Cabot Clothbound ($17 for 8 ounces, murrayscheese.com) This traditional New Englander, in the savory English cheddar style, rocks some of the tangy, salty umami of a sharp cheddar yet with loads of mellow, meaty, earthy notes.
Fiore Sardo ($13.50 for 8 ounces, murrayscheese.com) Strong, salty and funky, with a solid, bittersweet backbone and distinctive bite, this smoked Sardinian pecorino is not for the faint of palate.
Fulvi Pecorino Romano ($12.50 for 8 ounces, murrayscheese.com) Its substantial salt and bitter bite are ultimately tempered by underlying sweet grassiness and umami.
Hook’s 15-year Aged Cheddar ($55 per pound, hookscheese.com) Highly concentrated and full-flavored, it is sharp, but with a remarkably sweet, boozy, yeasty core flavor and meaty undertones.
Point Reyes Original Blue ($29 for 8 ounces, murrayscheese.com) Medium-strength for a blue, with a nice peppery finish, it finds balance with sweet milky flavors and a dollop of that signature California grassy tang.
Prairie Breeze ($14.99 for 6 ounces, harvestbarnmarketplace.com) A moderately sharp, tangy, fruity, grassy mouthful that masterfully represents the sweeter American Midwestern style.
Quicke’s Mature Cheddar ($17.50 for 8 ounces, murrayscheese.com) As close to qualifying as sharp as any traditional English farmhouse cheddar, it’s tangy and salty but balanced.
Tillamook Cheddars ($12 to $15 for 32-ounce Baby Blocks, tillamook.com) Departing from Medium, with mild, milky, buttery aromas and mere hints of sulfur, salt and nuttiness, the Sharp (9 months) added sweet notes up front and meatiness in the finish. The Extra Sharp (15 months), next-level in flavor volume, offered rich, creamy, savory and nutty aromas.
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