See it in action
Why does aged cheese register as herbal?
Cheese is a dairy product, but its aroma profile borrows heavily from the spice rack — thanks to a phenolic compound more commonly associated with Mediterranean herbs.
Carvacrol
Carvacrol: the dominant oregano/thyme phenol driving cheese's herbal top note
OAV in cheese
Aroma: oregano, thyme, spicy · phenol
2-octanol
2-Octanol: a waxy, mushroom-adjacent alcohol that rounds out the mid-register
OAV in cheese
Butanoic acid
Butanoic acid: the short-chain fatty acid behind cheese's rancid, tangy baseline
OAV in cheese
Aroma: apple; banana; burnt, orange, rancid, waxy · acid
Cheese's herbal edge is not incidental — carvacrol dominates the OAV stack by a wide margin, meaning the compound most responsible for oregano's identity is also quietly steering how aged dairy reads on the nose.
Unlock the OAV numbers
See exactly how far over the detection threshold each compound is — the part of the chemistry that explains why this pairing works. Plus the full ranked list for any ingredient, compound index, and Compare tool.
OAV (Odor Activity Value) = concentration ÷ detection threshold. Numbers above 1 mean the compound contributes detectably to aroma.