Abstract :
A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of 5 years long-term extended frozen-storage
on sensory quality of Monterey Jack semi-hard goat milk cheeses stored at −20 ◦C. Three lots
of Monterey Jack caprine milk cheeses were manufactured at the university dairy processing
plant. Each lot of cheese was placed in 2 × 4 × 1.5 (W × L × H) plastic pouches, vacuum
packaged and immediately frozen at −20 ◦C for 5 years. A trained sensory panel (n = 7, 6
females, 1 male) evaluated the cheeses using a previously published lexicon for cheese
flavor adapted for evaluating goat milk cheeses. Flavor and taste intensities were scaled
using a 15-point intensity scale using the SpectrumTM descriptive analysis method. Flavor
scores of the fresh cheese as the reference standard were compared with those of the
5 years frozen-stored samples. The results of sensory profiling by the trained panel showed
that cooked/milk, sweet and milk fat flavors were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced after the
long-term frozen storage, while no changes occurred in diacetyl, whey, sour, salty, brothy
and waxy flavors. A noticeable grainy/pasty texture was detected in the 5 years frozenstored
cheeses. However, flavor characteristics of the goat cheeses were not greatly changed
suggesting that long-term frozen storage of goat milk cheese appeared to be feasible and
applicable for later consumption and marketing
