Volatile flavour production by Penicillium caseifulvum

The production of volatile aroma compounds from the cheese associated fungu s Penicillium caseifulvum has been compared to the aroma production by P. c amemberti when grown on a liquid cream based medium in Petri dishes. Volati les were collected by diffusive sampling between day 5 and 10 and between d ay 10 and 15 and analysed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometr y. During both sampling periods similar qualitative aroma profiles could be observed for the two species. In the beginning volatiles like ethanol, ace tone, 2-methylpropan-1-ol, 2-pentanone, 3-methylbutan-1-ol, 2-heptanane, 2- nonanone and 2-undecanone were dominant, whereas the metabolism changed lat er in the growth phase. At this stage unsaturated hydrocarbons like styrene , limonene, beta-caryophyllene and other terpenoids, including some possibl e diterpenes, were major volatiles. The results indicate the potential of P . caseifulvum as a new starter culture for the dairy industry or as a ferme ntation organism for production of natural cheese flavours by submerge ferm entation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.