Drivers of liking for Cheddar cheese shreds

Abstract

The prepackaged cheese shred category has steadily increased over the past few years, and Cheddar shreds represent the highest volume in this category. Recent studies have established extrinsic attributes that drive purchase in this category, but no published studies have addressed the intrinsic flavor and texture properties that drive consumer liking. The objective of this study was to determine the desirable flavor and functional attributes for Cheddar cheese shreds. We conducted a category survey of commercial Cheddar cheese shreds (n = 25, collected in duplicate). We documented sensory properties (shred appearance, flavor, texture, and hot texture) using a trained sensory panel. Analytical instrumental tests performed included shred-size distribution, proximate analysis, sugars (lactose, glucose, galactose), lactic acid, Cheddar meltability, pH, and color. Then, representative shreds (n = 10) were evaluated by cheese shred consumers (n = 151) for overall, appearance, flavor, and texture liking. Analysis of variance, principal component analysis, and external preference mapping were used to interpret results. Shreds were differentiated by color, whey, diacetyl, sulfur, nutty, and brothy flavors, as well as by hot and cold texture attributes and instrumental tests. Mild or medium shreds exhibited greater firmness, stretchability, and elasticity when hot than did sharp shreds. We identified 3 consumer clusters, defined by high acceptance for all Cheddar shreds or preferences for sharp or mild shreds. Bitterness was an overall driver of dislike. Visible powder negatively affected appearance and overall liking for some consumers. Sensory properties strongly affected consumer acceptance and purchase intent for Cheddar cheese shreds. Results from this study can be used to optimize the intrinsic sensory properties of Cheddar cheese shreds.

Relationship between Sensory Attributes, (Dis) Liking and Volatile Organic Composition of Gorgonzola PDO Cheese

“…The Penalty Analysis applied to the liking data and the RATA responses clearly identified four sensory drivers of liking related to the ('sweet' and 'salty') taste, ('nutty') flavor, and ('creamy') mouthfeel. As it is well known that drivers of liking can vary as a function of different cheese types and clusters of consumers [12,42,49], our results are in agreement with the previous literature on cheese preferences. For instance, nutty, salty, and sweet were attributes positively correlated with the overall liking of Swiss cheese [50].…”

Sensory properties and consumer acceptance of ready‐to‐drink vanilla protein beverages

“…These results demonstrated that consumers could recognize differences among samples by having different overall liking scores, but they struggled to communicate what the perceived differences are. This result was expected and was consistent with a previous study done by Meals, Schiano, and Drake (2019) where consumers documented differences in liking of cheese shreds, but struggled with CATA selections of mild cheese flavors (e.g., milky, brothy, etc.) to describe different cheese shreds, but instead relied on basic tastes, texture and appearances.…”

Plant-Based Alternatives Need Not Be Inferior: Findings from a Sensory and Consumer Research Case Study with Cream Cheese

“…Since it has been suggested that more than 1000 types of cheese exist [32] with very different characteristics [9], sensory drivers of liking will be specific to different types of cheese. Nonetheless, they are likely to encompass multiple sensory modalities (appearance, aroma, taste, flavour, texture, mouthfeel, and aftertaste) [20,21,[33][34][35]. This extends to cream cheese (PBCA and dairy) [18,22,36,37].…”

“…Consumer segmentation based on product liking was expected to exist. Considering that individual differences in preference are described for many foods and beverages [49] including dairy-based cheese [21,33,50] and PB alternative foods [51][52][53], interest in the present research was centred on the relative size of segments that liked, rejected, or partially accepted PBCA. Such knowledge is relevant because it helps to determine the magnitude of the change that has to occur for the consumption of PB alternative foods to become the norm rather than the exception.…”