Cheese flavour peptides

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... 

Cliffe, A. J., Marks, J. D., and Mulholland, F. (1993). Isolation and characterization of nonvolatile flavours from cheese. Peptide profile of flavour fractions from Cheddar cheese determined by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography. Int Dairy J. 3, 379-387,... 

Lemieux, L., and Simard, R. E. (1991). Bitter flavour in dairy products. I. A review of the factors likely to influence its development, mainly in cheese manufacture. Lait 71,599-636. Lemieux, L., and Simard, R. E. (1992). Bitter flavour in dairy products. II. A review of bitter peptides from the caseins Their formation, isolation and identification, structure masking and inhibition. Lait 72, 335-382. 

Visser, S., Hup, G., Exterkate, F. A., and Stadhouders, J. (1983). Bitter flavour in cheese. 2. Model studies on the formation and degradation of bitter peptides by proteolytic enzymes from calf rennet, starter cells and starter cell fractions. Neth. Milk Dairy J. 37,169-180. 

Proteolysis in cheese has been linked to its importance for texture, taste and flavour development during ripening. Changes of the cheese texture occur owing to the breakdown of the protein network. Proteolysis contributes directly to taste and flavour by the formation of peptides and free amino acids, as well as by Uberation of substrates for further catabolic changes and, thereby, formation of volatile flavour compounds. Besides sensory quality aspects of proteolysis, formation of bioactive peptides as a... 

Peptides play an important role in the flavour and sensory properties of foods such as yeast extract, cheese and fruit juices. 

Proteolytic enzymes. Proteolytic enzymes produced by starter organisms usually play a key role in the degradation of milk caseins to oligopeptides, smaller peptides and amino acids in fermented dairy products and cheese. Besides being necessary for normal growth of lactococci in milk, this degradation of proteins is important for the development of flavour and texture in cheese. 

For example, intense proteolyses of muscle proteins, due to the action of endogenous proteolytic enzymes, have been reported to occur during the processing of dry-cured ham. This gives rise to the formation of free amino acids and short peptides (especially from actin through the action of cathepsin D in meat and from caseines as a result of plasmin and other proteases in cheeses) that contribute directly or indirectly to the flavour characteristics of the final product. In the case of octapeptide Lys-Gly-Asp-Glu-Glu-Ser-Leu-Ala, isolated from beef broth, this reportedly showed umami taste with a threshold value of about 500 mg/1. 

---