Determination of the quality of cheese “Chihuahua” type: Sensory and physicochemical approaches

The physicochemical and sensory characteristics of eight formulations from Chihuahua cheese with differences in the number of maturation days were studied. There were significant differences in their (pH, internal temperature and color). Sensory characterizations were carried out by sorting task technique with a panel of 12 assessors. The sensory maps were analyzed by using Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) and Correspondence Analysis (CA) while a spatial comparison between configurations of physiochemical and sensory data were validated by the Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) and Rv coefficient. A lexicon of 22 sensory attributes was generated by the assessors which further allowed them to discriminate cheese samples. The cheese eventually developed different attributes with respect to their maturation, especially in aspects of texture and aroma. A comparison of spatial configurations using Rv coefficients showed a moderate correlation between the methods of analysis. However, updates may be necessary for a complete sensory characterization by techniques such as QDA® for further study of Chihuahua cheese quality evaluation by consumers.