Characterisation and consumer liking of white cheeses from different milk fermentation: Correlation between sensorial and instrumental analyses

Abstract

In the present work, the consumer liking and physicochemical, textural, and sensorial characteristics of white cheeses made from different milk origins (sheep, goat, and cow); and the correlation of instrumental and sensorial-textural attributes were studied. Results were examined using principal component analysis (PCA) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) texture maps which showed that the change of textural properties of sheep, goat, and cow cheeses was significantly different. These deviations between cheeses could be attributed to different milk compositions with various gel networks and ripening phenomena of cheeses. Instrumental hardness and adhesiveness were significantly correlated with sensory data. Sensory chewiness was positively correlated with gumminess and chewiness. Sensorial fracture and instrumental hardness had the highest positive correlation and also significantly positively correlated with instrumental fracturability. It was found that dry matter values were also highly positively correlated with fracturability and hardness. Cooked, whey, creamy, and fermented terms were determined as characteristic sensory descriptors by using quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA).