Novel Oaxaca cheese-based food products prepared by molecular cooking techniques: An insight into attributes, emotions, memories, and liking

Oaxaca cheese or “quesillo” is a popular food in Mexico produced using artisanal and industrial methods. The globalization of flavors and changing consumer trends have given rise to the generation of new foods inspired by traditional foods using molecular cooking techniques. The aim of this study was to compare the dominance and intensity of sensory attributes, emotions, memories and preference for novel Oaxaca cheese products prepared by molecular cooking techniques versus traditional Oaxaca cheese. The Oaxaca cheese-based food products were prepared by molecular cooking techniques: foaming (FOA), spherification (SPH) and gelation (GEL). A total of 100 cheese consumers participated in different sensory tests that included Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS), intensity, emotions, memories, and liking. TDS showed that the dominant attribute in the GEL product was creamy flavor. For the FOA product, dominant attributes were creamy flavor, salty taste and milk flavor, and the sensory attributes bitter taste, whey flavor and milk flavor were dominant in the product prepared by SPH. Regarding emotions and memories, products prepared by GEL elicited in consumers seven negative memories and one emotion and three positive memories. The product prepared by SPH elicited in consumers six negative emotions and one positive emotion and memory. GEL and FOA products (with the highest sensory similarities to traditional cheese) were located in a preference region between 40 and 80% with a total of 17 consumers, whereas the SPH product was located in the lowest preference region (0–20%).