Volatile fraction of DOP “Castelo Branco” cheese: Influence of breed

“Castelo Branco” cheese is a Portuguese DOP cheese made from raw ewe’s milk coagulated with Cynara cardunculus, ripened for at least 40 days. “Merino da Beira Baixa” pure race is frequently used to produce milk for this cheese, however, exotic races such as Assaf and crusade of these two races are also used. The aim of this work has been to compare the volatile profile and sensory characteristics of DOP “Castelo Branco” cheeses manufactured during winter season with milk of breeds from Merino, Assaf and crusade of these two races and identify volatile compounds that can distinguish these cheeses.Volatile compounds profile was assayed by SPME–GC–MS. A total of 67 volatile compounds were separated and identified. The volatile profiles of the three types of cheeses differed significantly. Descriptive analysis and triangle tests confirmed that these cheeses presented significantly different sensory characteristics. Discriminant analysis showed that specific volatile components seemed to distinguish specific cheeses.