Quantification of Major Free Fatty Acids in Several Cheese Varieties

Low to moderate concentrations of individual major free fatty acids were in Camembert, Brie, Port Salut, Monterey Jack, Edam, Colby, and Gruyere cheeses. Blue and Roquefort cheeses had high free fatty acid contents and strong flavor of free fatty acids. Goat's milk cheese had high 8-carbon free fatty acids. Limburger cheese had high concentrations of 4-carbon and 6-carbon, but flavor contributions from these free fatty acids were suppressed because the pH of this cheese was high (6.97). Hydrolytic rancidity flavor defects in Swiss, Brick, and Cheddar cheeses were signaled by measurement of high concentrations of individual short-chain free fatty acids.