Evolution during Three Ripening Stages of Évora Cheese

Abstract

The variability and heterogeneity found in Évora cheeses, Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), can affect consumers’ choices. Assessing the ripening conditions and their effect can be helpful. To study the effect of ripening duration in Évora cheese PDO, sensory and chemical analyses were performed in cheese samples subjected to 30, 60, and 120 days of ripening under controlled conditions (temperature 14 to 15 °C and humidity 65 to 70%). Sensory analysis was conducted with a homogenous panel previously familiarized with the product after a short training period, and chemical analyses including pH, moisture, NaCl content, aw, and salt-in-moisture were determined. Panelists were able to distinguish the differences in the organoleptic characteristics of the three cheese stages, and chemical determinations showed significant differences between stages. Interrater agreement was higher in the sensory evaluation of cheeses with a longer maturation period. As expected, cheeses in the 120 days ripening period presented lower pH, moisture, and water activity and had higher salt-in-moisture content. This stage received the highest scores in hardness and color of the crust, intensity, pungency of the aroma, intensity of taste and piquancy, and firmness and granular characteristics of texture. Overall acceptance of cheese samples was positive, regardless of the ripening stage, which probably reflects both the homogeneity of taster profiles and the previous knowledge of this particular product. The degree of ripeness influences the physical, chemical, and sensory characteristics but does not affect the acceptance of this product by the consumer.

Changes in Physicochemical and Microbiological Properties, Fatty Acid and Volatile Compound Profiles of Apuseni Cheese during Ripening

“…This decrease is due to the moisture in the cheese during ripening. Similar values are reported for Cheddar cheese [31], Evora [7], or lower compared to Prato cheese [32] or Terrincho cheese [8].…”

“…The moisture content of the samples, as expected, decreased from 54.66% to 46.69% during baking. These values were higher than those reported for Evora cheese [7], Valdeón cheese [11], and lower than those reported for Parmigiano Reggiano [5], Provolone del Monaco [30], Cheddar [31].…”

“…Although various studies have been carried out in recent years to characterize ripening cheeses, they have been carried out to a greater or lesser extent, such as Parmigiano Reggiano [ 5 ], Cheddar [ 6 ], Évora Cheese [ 7 ], Terrincho chees [ 8 ], Gorgonzola cheese [ 9 ], Civil cheese [ 10 ], and Spanish blue cheese-Valdeón [ 11 ].…”

“…Protein degradation during cheese curing is a directed process resulting in protein fragments with desirable flavors. Dairy fat is a wonderfully rich source of flavors, because it contains an extremely diverse selection of fatty acids [ 7 , 13 , 16 ]. Following the cheese-ripening processes, changes were observed in the physical, chemical, and microbiological properties [ 5 , 8 , 13 , 17 ].…”

Ripening Changes of the Chemical Composition, Proteolysis, and Lipolysis of a Hair Sheep Milk Mexican Manchego-Style Cheese: Effect of Nano-Emulsified Curcumin

“…Color is an important criterion for evaluating the quality of cheeses and is often the primary consideration for consumers when making their purchase decision [ 44 ]. The color measurements of the manchego-style cheeses at the different ripening periods are shown in Table 3 .…”