When Scott Rankin smells stinky cheesesâ??the kind so potent that the French refer to them as “the feet of God”â??he doesn’t just use his nose.
In spite of such a rarefied interest, Rankin isn’t an evangelist of the curd, a champion of cheese. No, he’s a food scientist, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He studies not only the chemistry of cheese, but also the intricacies of production (10 gallons of milk equals 1 pound of cheese) and the evolution of craft. He experiences dairy’s golden cousin like few others.