Perfil sensorial e físico-químico de queijo minas artesanal produzido na microrregião de Araxá-MG

Abstract

Minas Gerais stands out as the largest and most important producer of artisanal cheeses in Brazil. The sensory characteristics of artisanal minas cheese depend on the place of origin, as well as on the technological process used, mainly on the maturation stage. In a sensory analysis, parameters such as shape, color, appearance, odor, flavor, texture and consistency are evaluated, which define a good acceptability of the final product. In this context, the following project aimed, through the Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (ADQ), to survey the typical characteristics presented in samples of artisanal Minas cheese produced in the Araxá region. The survey of the descriptive terms of the samples was carried out by tasters, previously selected, using the Network Method. The training was carried out with the products to be evaluated, with the reference materials proposed for each attribute and with the descriptive form consensually developed by the team of selected tasters. The samples were also evaluated in the sensory acceptance test by tasters not trained in the attributes Appearance, Aroma, Texture, Flavor, Global Assessment. The physical and chemical parameters of the cheeses were also analyzed: fat, protein, moisture, ash, and salt content, as well as texture analysis. It was possible to characterize the cheeses as to color as straw yellow tint, with a stronger tint in the rind, of high firmness and tendency to be brittle, as of high humidity, low amount of looks, characteristic aroma with a tendency to strong odor, flavor with high acidity, with a tendency to be smooth and with a low tendency to be salty. In addition, it was observed that the analyzed products had good sensory acceptance by the untrained tasters in the acceptability test, in which more than 50% of the scores for all five attributes studied were equal to or greater than 6 on the 9-point structured hedonic scale. There was a good relationship between the results obtained for the physical-chemical analyzes with those already performed in the literature, thus achieving a better physical and chemical characterization of the artisanal minas cheese from the Araxá region. Regarding texture analysis, few studies have been found in the literature that define the texture profile for artisanal Minas cheese, which shows the importance of encouraging more studies to better investigate variations in the sensory profile of these cheeses.