Cheese flavour amines

The taste of cheese is concentrated in the water-soluble fraction (peptides, amino acids, organic acids, amines, NaCl) while the aroma is mainly in the volatile fraction. Initially, it was believed that cheese flavour was due to one... 

Many cheeses contain the same or similar compounds but at different concentrations and proportions chromatograms of some cheese varieties are shown in Figure 10.25. The principal classes of components present are aldehydes, ketones, acids, amines, lactones, esters, hydrocarbons and sulphur compounds the latter, e.g. H2S, methanethiol (CH3SH), dimethyl sulphide (H3C-S-CH3) and dimethyl disulphide (H3C-S-S-CH3), are considered to be particularly important in Cheddar cheese. The biogenesis of flavour compounds has been reviewed by Fox et al. (1993, 1996a) and Fox, Singh and McSweeney (1995). 

Nice huh But most likely wrong. The same text does not fail to mention the so-called cheese reaction , which consists in a sudden rise of blood pressure in patients receiving MAO inhibitors. Cheese - as well as other t5q)es of fermented food, such as salami or summer sausage - is rich in decarboxylation products of amino acids (amines), which are in part responsible for the characteristic flavours. The one of interest here is indeed tyramine. Tyramine acts as an indirect S5mipathomimetic , much in the same way as amphetamine does. It can hardly be held responsible for lowering and increasing the blood pressure at the same... 

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