MEASUREMENT OF THE HARDNESS AND MOUTHFEEL OF CHEESE USING A SLIDING PIN CONSISTOMETER

A sliding pin consistometer (SPC) was used to differentiate between six commercial cheese products, including a hard, mature Cheddar and a soft, cream cheese, at a number of temperatures in the range 0.8 to 25.0°C. Average force values (F_f) decreased with increasing temperature and with decreasing relative cheese hardness. Measurements were also made on six Cheddar cheeses with a range of salt to moisture (s/m) ratio (2.95 × 10^-2 to 5.57 × 10^-2) at a sample temperature of 16°C at maturation periods of 22, 58, 100 and 183 days. A panel of 27 adults scored the hardness and mouthfeel of these samples at these maturation periods using 9-point scoring scales. The SPC discriminated between samples and maturation periods and was more discriminating than the subjective evaluation of panelists. Mean F_f values decreased with maturation and increased linearly with increasing s/m. Panelists' hardness scores increased with s/m but were not influenced significantly by maturation. Mouthfeel increased with maturation and was a maximum at a s/m of between 4.36 × 10^-2 and 4.57 × 10^-2. The SPC provides objective information that could be useful in assessing the effect of treatment on cheese.