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hubie [soylentnews.org] writes:

A pair of chemists at the Technical University of Munich have determined a chemical "blueprint" [rsc.org] for Parmesan cheese. They used a panel of a dozen trained tasters and had them determine the taste profile for the cheese ("The dominant tastes were found to be saltiness, bitterness, ‘burning’ and the recently described ‘kokumi’ sensation linked to perceptions of ‘heartiness’."). They then examined 65 candidate taste compounds and ranked them by their dose-over-threshold (DoT) values (the ratio of the measured concentration to its concentration at the taste threshold). To determine how the chemicals affect various aspects of the flavor profile, they presented the tasting panel with various experiments where they manipulated the relative levels of these compounds in a "cheese-like model matrix" (yum!). Of the 65 compounds under consideration, they found 31 chemicals with DoT greater than unity and 15 less than unity.

This gave them a ‘molecular blueprint’ for the taste of Parmesan which indicated the compounds responsible for each type of flavour. For example, high levels of sodium, potassium and chloride ions account for the cheese’s saltiness, and five biogenic amines including histamine, cadaverine and putrescene were found to be responsible for the ‘burning’ element. Several gamma-glutamyl peptides, which are associated with kokumi, were also identified.

The chemical blueprint gives cheese manufacturers better insight into manipulating the flavor of their product. If one understands where these chemical compounds are formed in the cheese-making process, this might allow one to enhance or suppress these particular compounds. They were able to demonstrate that they could make their cheese-like matrix taste almost the same as real Parmesan cheese.

Paper abstract [acs.org]:

Targeted quantitation of 65 candidate taste compounds and ranking on the basis of dose-over-threshold (DoT) factors, followed by taste re-engineering and omission experiments in aqueous solution as well as in a cheese-like model matrix, led to the identification of a total of 31 key tastants (amino acids, organic acids, fatty acids, biogenic amines, and minerals) with DoT factors ≥1.0 and a total of 15 subthreshold, but kokumi-enhancing, γ-glutamyl peptides in extraordinarily high concentrations of 20468 μmol/kg. Among the γ-glutamyl peptides, γ-Glu-Gly, γ-Glu-Ala, γ-Glu-Thr, γ-Glu-Asp, γ-Glu-Lys, γ-Glu-Glu, γ-Glu-Trp, γ-Glu-Gln, and γ-Glu-His have been identified for the first time in Parmesan cheese. The excellent match of the sensory profile of the taste recombinants and the authentic cheese demonstrated the identified taste compounds to be fully sufficient to create the characteristic taste profile of the Parmesan cheese. This molecular blueprint of a Parmesan’s chemosensory signature might be a useful molecular target for visualizing analytically the changes in taste profiles throughout cheese manufacturing and opens new avenues for a more scientifically directed taste improvement of cheese by tailoring manufacturing parameters (“molecular food engineering”).

Original Submission