why pepitas (pumpkin seeds) taste like blue cheese? Many nondairy 'blue cheese' recipes are pepita based.
It actually mimics blue reasonably well according to omnivores.
What constituent(s) creates this flavor?  Recipes include acid and salt and sometimes yeast but where is the blue?
I've looked at short-chain fatty acids etc like  propionic, butyrate, valeric (pentanoic), decanoic and lauric; even the goaty 3-methylbutanoic present in blue cheese.
Doesn't correspond with pepitas palmitic, oleic, and linoleic so what could it be?
This is a typical recipe by https://lowcarb-vegan.net/vegan-blue-cheese/
Ingredients
1/2 cup (70 g) unroasted pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup (60 ml) water
1/2 cup (120 ml) vinegar or lemon juice
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon tahini
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or a small clove of fresh garlic
1 teaspoon salt
200 gram (7 oz) firm tofu
1/3 to 1/2 cup (80-120 ml) neutral tasting coconut oil (optional)
I'm certainly not a food scientist or chemist, but could it be the umami that is being likened to, or substituting for blue cheese?  Pepitas are pretty high in glutamic acid at 13258mg per 227 grams of seeds. Glutamic acid, I believe, is a source of umami.