Straight From The Experts: Why Do We Age Food?

Experts explain why time is the secret ingredient that makes food and drink taste even better.

It’s a fact: good things grow better with age.

For hundreds of years, it has been customary across cultures to age food and drink such as cheese, meat, whisky and wine. But did you know that coffee can be aged, too?
That’s right. Coffee ageing began in the 1700s, when beans harvested in Indonesia were transported by boats to Europe. The exposure to various elements such as sea air and salt water transformed the taste and smell of the coffee, especially when roasted.

While it’s a centuries-old practice, aged coffee remains quite rare today. For the first time, leading coffee purveyor Nespresso embarks on the journey of ageing with its latest release, Selection Vintage 2014. We speak to their coffee specialists on how they make use of time and craft to create a truly delicious and aromatic coffee, as well as highlight the maturing process of other gourmet products to see what makes them truly worth the wait.

Above Photo courtesy of Nespresso

Coffee

“Much like fine cheeses or vinegar, coffee can be aged as well. We at Nespresso tapped into this well-known concept to create the Selection Vintage 2014. Not all coffee beans can be aged though; we carefully selected and harvested fresh, high quality beans from the Colombian highlands and aged them through a specific, controlled process pioneered by Nespresso experts.

The result is an outstanding coffee with a distinct flavour profile; it’s elegant with soft fruit and woody notes to give you an instant jolt in the morning. The smooth texture and rich aroma are also outstanding. I recommend enjoying it black.”—Karsten Ranitzsch, Head of Coffee at Nespresso. nespresso.com.sg

Nespresso has collaborated with Riedel to create the Reveal Espresso Intense. The set of two crystal glasses enhances the coffee’s aroma texture and sensorial pleasure for better coffee enjoyment.

Above Photo courtesy of 1855 The Bottle Shop

Whisky

“Whisky is matured in casks just like wine, so it develops characteristics specific to the style of the distillery. It’s quite different to wine where fermentation continues inside the bottle; whisky doesn’t improve with age.

After distillation, the spirit is kept in a barrel and stored in a climate-controlled environment. The wood adds flavour, slowly infusing the liquor with lignin, vanillin lactones and tannins or ‘wood spice’. This also gives the whisky its unique colour, aroma and texture.

Most commercial whiskies age their products for eight to 25 years while in Scotland, they are bound by the rule to mature the spirit for three years before it can be labeled as whisky.”—Patrick Sng, Group CEO, 1855 The Bottle Shop. 1855thebottleshop.com

Above Photo courtesy of Opus Bar & Grill

Meat

“We age meat to improve the meat’s tenderness, flavour, and to prolong its shelf life. There are two ways to do this. Dry ageing is usually done for premium cuts like striploin and ribeye. The meat is left on the bone and hung inside a controlled, chilled environment for 14 to 100 days to remove moisture and intensify the taste and texture.

Wet ageing involves sealing the meat—usually without the bone in—inside a vacuum bag. You’ll notice that the meat will get darker while ageing, but once it’s exposed to air it will “bloom” back to its original colour. We do this to increase the length of time it can be stored fresh, but the flavour profile won’t generally change.” —Warren Pensini, Owner of Black Valley Beef, available at Ryan’s Grocery. ryansgrocery.com

Above Photo courtesy of Robert Parker

Wine

“Simply put, wine is ‘matured’ before bottling to enhance the youthful elements and achieve greater harmony and complexity. This process starts when it’s transferred to an oak barrel and oxygen is introduced. The colour of white wines will deepen from water to yellow and eventually to a golden hue, while reds will change from purplish to a fixed red before it turns brown.

The flavours also change from the primary fruit spectrum (cherries, lemons and blackcurrants) to a more complex expression (kirsch, lemon curd and crème de cassis). Finally, tannin compounds–those compounds that account for the tea-like texture in red wines–grow larger with oxygen, and therefore make the taste softer and more mellow.

A Chardonnay may take four months in a barrel, while a concentrated Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon takes four years. But a typical top Bordeaux red will usually spend around 18-24 months in barrel.” —Lissa Perroti-Brown, Robert Parker Wine Advocate, Editor in Chief and Reviewer for Australia, New Zealand, Sonoma & Oregon. robertparker.com

Above Photo courtesy of Xperience Restaurant

Cheese

“We age cheese to influence, increase and bring out the best level of its characteristics, from the flavour, texture, as well as colour. The maturation period—or what we call affinage—is the time where the cheese receives careful treatment inside a ‘cave’. Depending on the type, this can take a few weeks to a couple of years; the longer it’s kept inside, the more pronounced its taste and aroma will develop.

The longest period we age cheese is 25 months for our Comté Affinage 30 Moi, while the shortest is 10 days for our Cabécou.”—Stephanie Debaene, Assistant Sales Manager - Dairy of Classic Fine Foods. classicfinefoods.com

Topics

wine whisky cheese nespresso aged coffee dried meat why do we age food? Selection Vintage 2014