Effects of smoking on surface colour and texture of traditional goat cheeses

Abstract

Forty eight Canarian goat cheeses were smoked using six different materials; shell of the almond (Prunus aulcis), segmented prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus indica), pine needles and wood of canary pine (Pinus canariensis), rose rock wood (Cistus monspeliensis) and heather wood (Erica arborea). Cheeses were smoked at two different ripening times: 4 and 10 days, samples of 20-days-old were analyzed. Surface cheese colour was measured using a colorimeter, measuring Lightness, Croma and Hue angle, while texture characteristics were determined using the Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) obtaining five parameters for texture: fracturability, hardness, cohesiveness, adhesiveness and elasticity. Only Lightness was affected by the age of cheese at smoking process. Cheeses smoked with Erica arborea wood and Pinus canariensis wood were statistically the darkest, while the ones smoked with Pinus canariensis needle were the lightest. Almond shell and Pinus canariensis wood produced cheeses with the highest intensive colour whereas the products smoked with Erica arborea wood and Pinus canariensis needles were the least intensive. When a smoke produced a darker colour, the Croma was high and the Hue angle was far from yellow axis. For texture characteristic, in compression test, cheeses smoked with 10-days-old were more fracturable and hardness and less elastic than others smoked with 4-days-old while the material used for smoking only affected cohesiveness.