Contribution of Penicillium sp. to the Flavors of Brie and Camembert Cheese

Volatile flavor compounds produced by Penicillium caseicolum in domestic and French Brie cheese were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; they included carbon-5, carbon-7, carbon-9, carbon-11 methyl ketones, and corresponding secondary alcohols, 2-octanone, 3-octanone, 1-octen-3-ol, 1,5-octadien-3-ol, 1,5-octadien-3-one, and 2methylisoborneol. Lipoxygenase formation of the eight carbon compounds responsible for the mushroom, plantqike flavors of mold surface-ripened cheeses was enhanced either by the disruption of mold mycelia or the addition of specific co-3 and ~-6 fatty acid precursors. The occurrence of 8-nonen-2-one in moldripened cheeses was associated with the /3-oxidative conversion of a specific unsaturated fatty acid resulting from initial lipoxygenase attack on either linoleic or linolenic acids.