A viscoelasticity index for cheese meltability evaluation.

A device especially designed for uniaxial creep test was used in this study. Cheddar cheeses of different fat content were used. To study the linear viscoelastic response of the cheese, temperature of 40 degrees C and stress of 1119.5 Pa were chosen. Tests were carried out at cheese ages of 1, 3, 6, and 12 wk after production date. A six-element Kelvin model was used to model the creep data. Instantaneous slope of the creep curve was defined as the viscoelasticity index. The results showed that the viscoelasticity index based on viscoelastic parameters could be used for predicting cheese meltability. From the analysis of variance test, it was evident that that the viscoelasticity index can be used to distinguish the meltability of Cheddar cheeses of different ages and fat levels.