Can plant-based cheese alternatives be characterized by methods for dairy cheese? Extending dairy cheese methods to characterize plant-based cheese alternatives

The techno-functional properties of dairy cheeses are often superior to their plant-based cheese alternatives. However, the constant increase in demand for plant-based cheese alternatives makes it important to achieve texture and functionality as in dairy cheeses. In this study commercial dairy cheeses and plant-based cheese alternatives were analyzed in regard to chemical composition, texture properties (unheated and heated state) and melting behavior with methods commonly applied to dairy cheeses. Especially, during an oscillatory temperature sweep, data did not show the "melting" the consumer notices while baking the product in an oven as done in the Schreiber test (2CA, 3CA). Therefore, a large amplitude oscillatory strain method (LAOS 60 °C) was applied and linked with the results obtained from the Schreiber test and the temperature sweep measurements. LAOS not only showed good correlation with the melting behavior observed in the Schreiber test but also allowed conclusions about the microstructure of the samples.