Texture assessment of French cheeses

The texture of a variety of French cheeses was studied by examining their compositional and mechanical parameters. The data obtained were correlated to those derived from a panel assessment of the sensory textural attributes of the samples. Statistical treatment of the results employing cluster analysis, analysis of variance, and redundancy analysis revealed that the most influential objective variables to characterize the cheese texture are the dry matter content and the resistance to force compression at 10% deformation of the initial sample height. These variables were highly correlated with sensory attributes such as hardness, brittleness, cohesiveness, and adhesiveness.