Sensory profiling and multidimensional scaling of selected Finnish rye breads

Summary A vocabulary for the description of the sensory properties of Finnish rye breads was developed as a basis for the design of a practical quality control/product development system to be used in a later study. Six samples, selected from thirty-two commercial rye breads, were evaluated for the intensity of twenty-nine attributes and for similarity between sample pairs. Significant differences were found between samples in the intensity of twenty-eight of these descriptors. The data were combined by a multidimensional scaling procedure (KYST 2A and PROFIT), which revealed three discriminative dimensions among the samples: (1) from pleasant rye-like to unpleasant flour-like; (2) from sweet to bitter; and (3) the presence/absence of a characteristic flavour caused by specific baking conditions (low temperature, long baking time). The PROFIT procedure identified 20 attributes as important for quality of rye bread samples using multiple correlation coefficients. There were five appearance attributes, two odour attributes, six taste attributes, five texture attributes and overall impression of pleasantness and freshness.