Investigating semi-hard cheese aroma: Relationship between sensory profiles and gas chromatography-olfactometry data

The purpose of this study was to investigate semi-hard cheese aroma by explaining sensory characteristics of cheese by gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) data obtained via intensity ratings. Sensory (13 odour attributes) and GC-O profiles obtained by trained panels were carried out on seven non-processed semi-hard cheeses. Intensity scores for significant sensory attributes and significant odour-active compounds were analysed by partial least squares to determine correlations between these datasets. A total of nine sensory attributes and 15 odour-active molecules significantly discriminated between the cheeses. There were strong correlations (89% of the sensory data was explained by 68% of the GC-O data) between sensory attributes and odour-active compounds. We observed expected correlations between the sensory sweaty-attribute and carboxylic acids, but also observed less trivial correlations suggesting that perceptual interactions could take place within the complex cheese aroma. Correlations between sensory attributes and odour-active compounds with very low-perception thresholds were also observed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.