Analysis of cheese melt profile using inverse-Hill function Original Research Article

The inverse-Hill model was used to fit the cheese melt profile – the cheese sample height vs. heating time curve obtained using the UW MeltProfiler device. Three process cheeses of different solid fat index (SFI) values were tested. The model fits for all melt profiles were excellent, and the model parameters, a, b, and n, were used to determine many cheese melt/flow characteristics determined by the graphical method previously used such as the softening point (tSP), end point (tEP), average flow rate (AFR) and maximum flow rate (MFR), etc. The b values corresponded to the rapid flow times (tRF), and n to the steepness of the melt profile. The tRF, and the corresponding temperature TRF, and n values correlated well with tSP, tEP, AFR, and MFR. In addition, TRF correlated well with cheese melt spread area and maximum spread diameter measured by a modified Schreiber test. Therefore, the inverse-Hill function simplifies the analysis of cheese melt profile and yields parameters useful to quantify cheese meltability.