treated at the beginning of ripenin

treated at the beginning of ripening (day 1) were responsible for
the observed variation of hardness and springiness. Hardness was
higher in samples treated at day 30 at 400 MPa than in the other
groups of cheeses, which also showed the highest dry-matter
content (Table 1), while cheeses treated at day 1 showed the
lowest hardness. In fact, the hardness of cheeses showed a positive
correlation with dry-matter (r ¼ þ0.609; P < 0.001). In addition, all
HP-treated cheeses showed a reduction of hardness proportional to
pressure intensity. Springiness was significantly higher in cheeses
treated at day 1, which had the highest value, than in HP-treated
cheeses at day 50 and control cheeses. Pressurisation can induce
modifications in the protein network of cheeses (Okpala, Piggott, &
Schaschke, 2009), which could have caused a fall of hardness and
a rise of springiness in HP-treated cheeses. On the other hand,
differences in the adhesiveness were reported between pressurized
cheeses. Cohesiveness values were significantly higher in cheeses
treated at day 1 at 600 MPa than in the other batches of cheeses; in
addition, HP-treated at day 50 and control cheeses presented the
lowest values. Finally, the highest values of gumminess and
chewiness were found in 30 day-old cheeses pressurized at
400 MPa, and they showed significant differences compared with
control cheeses. In conclusion, cheeses pressurized at the beginning
(at 400 or 600 MPa) and at the middle (at 400 MPa) of ripening
showed higher variations in certain TPA parameters than the other
ones.