Comparison between an odour profile sand a flavour profile of dry fermented sausages

Two preparations of dry fermented sausage inoculated with one of four different strains of Staphylococcus were prepared a week apart and tested twice by 10 trained assessors. Profiles of eight attributes (vinegar, dry sausage, fat, dry cured-ham, pate, milk, butter and nutty) were monadically assessed twice and scored on non-structured scales. During the first two sessions subjects tasted twice the four dry sausages from both preparations, and during the last two sessions 7 days later they assessed the odour of the same samples in duplicate by sparging with air. Principal component analysis showed that the eight samples (four strains x two preparations) of dry sausage were described similarly by tasting and sniffing except for the fat attribute. The principal component analysis showed that the eight samples of dry sausage were better discriminated by smell than by taste. The smelling procedure resulted in a better recognition of dry sausages inoculated with the same strain of Staphylococcus than that by tasting. Variance analysis showed that product effect was significant on common odour and flavour attributes: 'vinegar','fat' and 'butter'; and it was never significant on 'nutty' and 'pate'. The F-values for 'vinegar', 'fat','dry-ham', 'milk' and 'butter' were higher by smell than by taste. Only 'dry-sausage' was better distinguished by taste.