the library

Goat cheese

Meat, fish & cheese· cheese

What it is

Goat cheese is cheese made from the milk of domestic goats, sold fresh or aged.

What it tastes like

On the nose: butter-fat, fruity, apple. Among its measured molecules: butyric acid, 2-ethylhexanol, 2,3-butanedione, acetoin, acetone.

Every one of its 15 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

• acetic acidaromaacidreads as pungent (PubChem)Measured in 37 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.12 ± 0.00 mg/kg at Day 1, rising to 8.44 ± 0.02 mg/kg by Day 120 — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Carboxylic acids block, row 'Acetic acid', Day1 column)
• acetoinaromaketonereads as buttery (PubChem)Measured in 18 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.65 ± 0.04 mg/kg at Day 1 (freshest sample) -- the largest single compound in the fresh cheese, rising to 1.82 ± 0.02 mg/kg by Day 90 before falling back to 0.48 by Day 150 — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Ketones block, row '3-Hydroxy-2-butanone (Acetoin)', Day1 column)
• acetonearomaketonereads as fruity (PubChem)Measured in 18 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.06 ± 0.01 mg/kg at Day 1 — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Ketones block, row '2-Propanone', Day1 column)
• butyric acidaromaacidreads as butter-fat taste (PubChem)Measured in 7 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.03 ± 0.00 mg/kg at Day 1, rising to 11.11 ± 0.03 mg/kg by Day 120 — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Carboxylic acids block, row 'Butanoic acid', Day1 column)
• caprylic acidaromaacidMeasured in 21 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.07 ± 0.00 mg/kg at Day 1, rising to 5.94 ± 0.02 mg/kg by Day 120 — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Carboxylic acids block, row 'Octanoic acid', Day1 column)
• 2,3-butanedionearomaketoneMeasured in 15 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.08 ± 0.00 mg/kg at Day 1, peaking at 0.36 ± 0.02 mg/kg at Day 90 before falling — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Ketones block, row '2,3-Butanedione (diacetyl)', Day1 column)
• ethanolaromaalcoholreads as burning (PubChem)Measured in 19 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.21 ± 0.01 mg/kg at Day 1, rising to 19.80 ± 0.09 mg/kg by Day 120 then falling to 3.71 by Day 150 — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Alcohols block, row 'Ethanol', Day1 column)
• phenylacetaldehydearomaaldehydeMeasured in 23 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.03 ± 0.00 mg/kg at Day 1, rising to 0.29 ± 0.00 mg/kg by Day 120 — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Aldehydes block, row 'Phenylacetaldehyde (Benzenacetaldehyde)', Day1 column)
• phenylethyl alcoholaromaalcoholreads as sharp burning taste (PubChem)Measured in 42 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.03 ± 0.00 mg/kg at Day 1, rising to 0.89 ± 0.07 mg/kg by Day 120 — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Alcohols block, row 'Phenethyl alcohol', Day1 column)
• alpha-pinenearomaterpenoidreads as turpentine (PubChem)Measured in 72 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.03 ± 0.00 mg/kg at Day 1, rising to 0.24 ± 0.02 mg/kg by Day 120 -- likely forage-derived, present at a small, ripening-correlated concentration rather than a dominant background reading — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Terpenes block, row 'α-Pinene', Day1 column)
• 2-ethylhexanolaromaalcoholreads as sweet, fatty-floral taste fruital note (PubChem)Measured in 10 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.03 ± 0.00 mg/kg at Day 1, rising to 0.24 ± 0.01 mg/kg by Day 120 — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Alcohols block, row '2-Ethyl-1-hexanol', Day1 column)
• ethyl acetatearomaesterreads as fragrant (PubChem)Measured in 43 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.04 ± 0.00 mg/kg at Day 1, rising to 0.48 ± 0.01 mg/kg by Day 120 — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Esters block, row 'Ethyl acetate', Day1 column)
• hexanoic acidaromaacidMeasured in 25 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.17 ± 0.02 mg/kg at Day 1, rising roughly 120-fold to 20.10 ± 0.41 mg/kg by Day 120 -- the largest concentration reached by any compound in the whole series — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Carboxylic acids block, row 'Hexanoic acid', Day1 column)
• 3-methylbutanalaromaaldehydereads as apple (PubChem)Measured in 23 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.25 ± 0.02 mg/kg at Day 1, staying in the same 0.13-0.29 mg/kg range through the whole 150-day series -- one of the few compounds that does not climb with ripening — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Aldehydes block, row '3-Methylbutanal', Day1 column)
• isoamyl alcoholaromaalcoholMeasured in 46 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.40 ± 0.01 mg/kg at Day 1, rising to 2.17 ± 0.03 mg/kg by Day 120 — Ferrara et al. 2026, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) (Table 1, Alcohols block, row '1-Butanol-3-methyl (Isoamyl alcohol)', Day1 column)