Sensory evaluation of lightly preserved salmon using free-choice profiling

In order to characterise a novel fermented salmon product, sensory evaluation by free-choice profiling was undertaken on three different types of salmon products (smoked salmon, gravlax and fermented salmon). Assessors could easily discriminate among all three types of products and common attributes were isolated from the set of individual assessments. Discrimination was made according to the appearance, odour and flavour attributes, while no clear consensus on texture was observable. The first discrimination factor between all products was the presence/absence of a smoky character. The novel fermented salmon was discriminated from gravlax as it appeared to have a distinct sour/ acidic odour and flavour.