Plant fat vs. milk fat-based fresh cheese: Microstructure, rheology, and sensory properties

This study utilized seven different fat blends and fat globule sizes on the microstructure, spreadability, rheological properties, and sensory characteristics of emulsions and fresh cheeses were evaluated. Compared to the D_3,2 of the anhydrous milk fat-based emulsion (6.44 μm), emulsions with high contents of palm stearin and palm kernel stearin exhibited larger D_3,2 (14.27 and 8.35 μm). The D_3,2 of the emulsions by high-pressure homogenization was significantly reduced to 0.083-0.982 μm. The protein network in cheeses prepared from high-pressure homogenized emulsions was less compact, which resulted in improved spreadability and a lower K' value. At large deformations, both the fat type and globule size influenced the intracycle elastic modulus and intracycle viscous modulus, leading to the emergence of strain-dependent behaviors within the cheese matrix, namely strain stiffening and shear thinning. Sensory evaluation indicated that, apart from flavor differences, plant-based fat cheeses demonstrated similar acceptability to dairy fat cheese.