APPLICATION OF MULTIVARIATE-ANALYSIS TO SENSORY CHARACTERIZATION OF EWES MILK CHEESE

Idiazabal cheese is an uncooked pressed cheese, with Appellation of Or igin, elaborated with raw ewes' milk. The seasonal characteristic of t he Idiazabal cheese, together with other factors such as physical, che mical and microbiological features of the milk, as well as climatic an d geographic conditions, can have an influence upon the sensory proper ties of cheese. The wide acceptance of ewes' milk cheese in Spain and the fact that no sensory characterization studies have been developed for the Idiazabal cheese led to the realization of the present work, t hat aims at characterization of the cheese from a sensory standpoint a nd at describing its degree of homogeneity taking into account factors such as the month and cheese factory of elaboration. After carrying o ut the Quantitative Descriptive Analysis, which included 22 descriptor s, and through a jury of specialists, factor analysis enabled us to cl assify Idiazabal cheese as a slightly pungent cheese in odor, flavor a nd aftertaste, with its own characteristic flavor and a firm, moderate ly grainy texture. Nonetheless, a significant degree of heterogeneity was observed among the samples.