Effects of high pressure treatment on fermentation processes during ripening of Gouda cheese

Abstract

High pressures ranging 50 to 400 MPa were applied to Gouda cheese cylinders and evolution of the volatile fraction was followed during three weeks. No new volatiles were recovered after simultaneous distillation-extraction, but some effects of high pressure on the fermentation processes were observed. Thus butyric acid and acetoin were found in lower concentrations after ripening of pressurized samples. Nevertheless differences in the volatile profile were not large enough to suggest an effect of high pressure on the acceleration of Gouda cheese ripening.

Key Words:

• Acetoin
• butyric acid
• Gouda cheese
• cheese ripening
• high pressure
• volatiles