Cheddar cheese flavour studies: I. Production of volatiles and development of flavour during ripening

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Abstract
Summary: Cheddar cheeses were pressed from a batch of curd each month over a period of 1 year to study the production of headspace volatiles and the development of flavour in ripening cheese. At 2-monthly intervals, samples taken from selected sites in the cheese were presented to a trained panel for assessment of quality and intensity of Cheddar flavour. Using a headspace technique samples of vapours from bore holes in different parts of the cheese were analysed for H2S, methanethiol, acetone, butanone, methanol, ethanol and 2-pentanone. Most of the compounds increased in concentration during the ripening period, but ethanol and butanone varied in concentration in an unsystematic way. Possible precursors of the headspace volatiles are discussed.