SENSORY PROPERTIES OF HARD CHEESE - IDENTIFICATION OF KEY ATTRIBUTES

The sensory properties of 16 samples of hard cheese encompassing the m ain types on sale in the United Kingdom have been studied. A panel of 16 assessors rated the cheese according to five odour, tell flavour an d five textural attributes. The data were analysed by the Residual Max imum Likelihood technique and estimates of effects of sample, order of tasting, carryover and assessor were computed. Significant sample dif ferences were found for 19 of the 20 attributes. Generalized Procruste s Analysis was also applied to the individual assessor matrices for od our, flavour and texture as a method of data simplification that allow s for differences between assessors. Consensus models were fitted whic h accounted for 41-58% of the total variation after rotation and scali ng. These models were of low dimensionality and were used to construct perceptual space maps. Interpretation of the individual dimensions in terms of the original attributes was achieved by correlation and proj ection methods. This allowed the key elements of the sensory propertie s of hard cheese to be identified.