Amino‐acids in New Zealand cheddar cheese:Their possible contribution to flavour

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Abstract
1. Paper partition chromatographic analysis of four maturing New Zealand Cheddar cheeses showed them to contain the following ninhydrin‐reacting compounds: glutamic acid, lysine and/or arginine, leucine and iso, leucine, valine, phenylalanine, alanine, aspartic acid, glycine, glutamine, asparagine, threonine, methionine, a peptide, and sometimes tyrosine, serine and proline, in the water‐soluble nitrogenous fraction.2. All the amino‐acids increased steadily in amount as the cheeses matured, except for tyrosine, the concentration of which fluctuated in the different cheeses, probably as a result of the decarboxylating activity of some of the lactobacilli present in the cheeses.3. Comparison of the times of appearance of the individual amino‐acids with flavour development indicated no correlation between a particular acid or acids and the development of Cheddar cheese flavour.4. The individual amino‐acids and their corresponding amines, as well as mixtures of the amino‐acids as found in mature cheese, did not possess any aroma or taste which might suggest that they contributed to the typical flavour of Cheddar cheese.