Evaluation of supercritical fluid extraction as sample preparation method for the study of Roncal cheese aroma

Aromatic extracts of Roncal cheese were obtained by supercritical fluid ext raction (SFE) in different solvent conditions. An adequate support for sens ory perception of the extracts has been selected from a group containing fo ur commercial products: sweetened cream, quark, cottage cheese and ewes' mi lk whey cheese (ricotta type). Ewes' milk whey cheese was found to be an ad equate support for assessing sensory qualities in the Roncal cheese. To ass ess the representativeness of the aromatic extracts, three different sensor y methods were applied:ranking, similarity and matching tests. The reconsti tution solvent mixture which best represented Roncal aromatic qualities was n-hexane:acetone (2.1). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved .