Sensory and instrumental textural changes during maturation of vacuum-packed cheeses containing Australian native herbs

The influence of native Australian herbs, such as mint, lemon myrtle and bush tomato, on sensory and instrumental texture profile analysis (TPA) of vacuum-packed cheeses has been studied for up to 90 days of maturation. Two-way analysis of the variance of sensory data showed that the cheese samples were significantly different (p<0.05) with respect to hardness and overall acceptability. Furthermore, changes in adhesiveness and chewiness were significant during maturation of all the samples. Analysis of instrumental TPA data showed significant differences between samples and, during maturation, for all textural parameters measured. However, only sensory hardness was significantly correlated with instrumental textural parameters. Results indicated that instrumental methods were better than sensory methods in discriminating between the samples, especially during maturation.