The bitter taste defect in Brazilian prato cheese was evaluated by sensorial tests, using a panel of 6 selected and trained panelists. A procedure for the sample preparation was proposed and a determination of bitter taste intensity in cheese was performed. Cheese samples with thickness of 1.25 cm were immersed in caffeine solutions, at a range of 0 to 0,28% (p/v) for 12 hours at 5ºC, and dried for 24 hours at the same temperature. The judges' selection was achieved by triangular test and Wald sequential analysis. Ranking tests and 9 cm non structured scale was used for judges' training and the results were evaluated by Friedman test, analysis of variance, and test averages according to Tukey at a level of 5% probability. The bitter taste was detected in different samples, and the samples with highest intensity obtained a score of 5.89±1.86, which corresponds to the sensation produced by cheese samples immersed in caffeine 0.07 % (p/v). The results showed that the immersion of sample cheese in caffeine solution was an adequate procedure to detect the bitter taste in Brazilian prato cheese.
cheese; bitter taste; proteolysis; sensory analysis
