Understanding the sensory profile of cheese ripeness description by trained and untrained assessors

Abstract

Cheese ripeness is an important step of cheese manufacturing that provides a kind of food with complex sensory characteristics and nuanced differences. The importance of generating rapid/easy consumer perception of a new product is without question. The aim was to evaluate the Santo Giorno cheese sensory profile, at different ripening times and with different starter cultures, evaluated by trained assessors and consumers using CATA questions. The two methods generated similar results. However, the results from CATA revealed that consumers are able to discriminate between cheeses with different ripening times but not describe them in detail. The application of the technique also made it possible to perceive that the two starter cultures used did not reflect different sensory elements and that the spicy and salty attributes are more easily perceived by consumers when evaluating ripened cheeses.