Cheese Rheology and Texture

Abstract

Scientists use rheology to study the flow and deformation of cheese, and sensory analyses to obtain information about cheese texture. Rheological techniques encompass empirical, imitative, and fundamental tests. Texture profile analysis is the most popular imitative technique, and fundamental tests include uniaxial compression, small amplitude oscillatory shear, and torsion tests. Sensory tests involve trained and untrained panels who use or develop lexicons of texture terms. This chapter describes these techniques, relates the chemistry of cheese to the results, and discusses correlations between instrumental and sensory data.