DISCRIMINATION OF TEXTURE AND APPEARANCE IN CHEDDAR CHEESE USING CONSUMER FREE‐CHOICE PROFILING

Are texture and appearance important factors in consumer choice of cheddar cheese? Quantitative descriptive analysis gives large data sets, but it is not clear how much is relevant to consumer perception. In a study of 20 cheddar style cheeses, free-choice profiling was employed to explore consumer discrimination. Appearance was the dominant factor, in particular color. Precise coloration was important to panelists. Textural descriptors related to perception of cheese character in the mouth appeared to relate to styles of cheese production and regional differences. Maturity was also a descriptor that could be defined in textural terms, and cheeses described as mild, vegetarian and low-fat cheeses were discriminated using descriptors related to elasticity and immaturity. It was apparent that the cheddar cheeses were perceived as being very varied in both appearance and texture, and the consumer panel discriminated between products readily using a range of descriptors.