Rheological Models of Cheddar Cheese Texture and Their Application to Maturation

Seventeen types of Cheddar cheese were assessed by a trained panel for creaminess, crumbliness (fingers), crumbliness (chewing), firmness, graininess, hardness (first bite), hardness (cutting), and springiness using Quantitative Descriptive Analysis. A maturing block of English Cheddar was also evaluated at various stages during ripening. The rheological properties of the Cheddar samples were determined using compression and cutting tests performed on an Instron Universal Testing Machine and are reported in terms of the true stress and Hencky strain. Multiple Regression techniques enabled accurate and rational rheological models of all the textural attributes except creaminess to be constructed. Models using instrumental variables where the test method had a similar action to that used by the human assessor were more accurate. The suggested models proved successful at predicting the textural characteristics of the Cheddar block at all but the earliest stages during maturation.