Sensory characterization of specific wood smoke aromas and their contributions to smoked Cheddar cheese flavor

Abstract

This study characterized the sensory properties of different wood smokes and their application to smoked Cheddar cheese flavor. Sniff jars of wood smokes were created by exposing filter paper to 23 C smoke (cold smoke). Sensory attributes for nine wood smokes (apple, alder, cedar, cherry, hickory, maple, mesquite, oak, and pecan) were generated by a trained panel followed by projective mapping of the different wood smoke aromas. Four distinct wood smokes (mesquite, cherry, hickory, and cedar) were selected for cold smoking of 30 day old Cheddar cheeses. Cheeses were cold smoked at 23 C followed by descriptive analysis of flavor attributes using the trained panel. Nonparametric and parametric statistical analyses were applied to the collected data. Twelve attributes were selected to describe wood smoke aromas. The sensory descriptors for the cold smokes cited most often included: sweet aromatic, charcoal/charred, guaiacol, meaty, vanillin, and fresh tobacco. Mesquite, cherry, hickory, and cedar smokes were the most distinct smokes by projective mapping, and these smokes also imparted distinct flavors to smoked Cheddar cheeses. The mesquite smoked cheese was characterized by high smoke aroma and the highest meaty/brothy flavor, the cherry smoked cheese was distinguished by campfire/marshmallow flavor, the hickory smoked cheese had high campfire/marshmallow and meaty flavors, and the cedar smoked cheese was characterized by an intense resinous flavor. The determination of sensory properties of different wood smokes demonstrates the differences in specific smoke flavor contributions to cheese. Furthermore, the determination of the sensory properties specific to smoked cheese will provide a platform to understand consumer perception of smoked cheeses. Practical ApplicationsSmoked foods are a growing category. This study demonstrated that smokes from different wood sources have distinct aromas that can be differentiated and that these distinct smoke aromatics are imparted to cheeses exposed to different wood smokes.Results from this study provide a sensory language to differentiate aromatics from different wood smokes and may be useful to product developers and food manufacturers seeking to position and differentiate smoked foods.

Optimizing the acceleration of Cheddar cheese ripening using response surface methodology by microbial protease without altering its quality features

“…Lipolysis is the fundamental source of free fatty acids, but they are able to be created by amino acid conversion (for example, leucine and valine), or generated by the lactose metabolism (Bao et al 2016 ; McCarthy et al 2017 ). As with levels of individual FAA, levels of FFA found at any step of ripening are the outcome of catabolism and hydrolysis (Del Toro‐Gipson et al 2020 ). The standard deviation and mean value of the corresponding percentages of individual fatty acids that existed in ideal and commercial cheeses are show in Additional file 2 : Table S3.…”

“…In a comparison between ideal and commercial Cheddar cheese, catabolism of branched-chain, sulfur-containing FAA, and aromatic have been involved in the flavour development of cheese, resulting in the production of potent volatile aroma compounds that improve the cheese aroma (Del Toro‐Gipson et al 2020 ). Exogenous proteinases and peptidases utilised for accelerated ripening take into account one of the different influencing aspects essential to cheese making (Mayer and Fiechter 2013 ).…”

Sensory Analysis and Consumer Preference: Best Practices

“…Data collection is replicated, as with all these approaches, and a mean projective map is generated by multiple factor analysis (MFA). Gipson et al (2020) used tagged PM with trained panelists to differentiate different wood smoke aromas. In its simplest form, PM allows a visualization of how similar or different products are.…”

Oxidation and flavor changes in smoked bacon cured using bamboo extract concentrate combined with bamboo poles during storage

“…Similarly, grapefruit peel smoking was proved to significantly increase the smoking flavor and inhibit the growth and propagation of harmful bacteria (Wang, Lu, et al, 2020). In addition, materials such as rice hull (Pino, 2014), black tea (Sung, 2013), apple tree (Del Toro‐Gipson et al, 2020), eucalyptus (Malarut & Vangnai, 2018) can also be used in smoking.…”