In previous studies, Flash pro fi ling was suggested as comple-
mentary to the more adapted and accurate conventional pro fi ling
(Dairou & Sieffermann, 2002). The present study shows that time-
consuming conventional pro fi ling can be substituted by the Flash
pro fi le technique in cases where the objective is the investigation of
the degree of similarity between samples, without the need for
specifying which are the sensory characteristics that drive this
similarity. Even then, some basic information on which sensory
characteristics are important is still provided, e.g., the main trend
that drove the ranking in the present study was identi fi ed as the blue
cheese related attributes. The number of samples in Flash pro fi ling is
limited due to the comparative evaluation technique used (ranking)
and new samples that cannot be introduced at a later time without
full repetition of the method. However, Flash pro fi ling can provide
a fast, cost effective method of collecting descriptive data on a small
sample set within the constraints discussed.