Abstract
Summary By means of a steam distillation and ether extraction procedure, it has been possible to recover material from blue cheese containing a high concentration of methyl ketones. By fractional distillation of this material relatively pure fractions of pentanone-2, heptanone-2 and nonanohe-2 were obtained. Acetone was identified as a constituent of the ether-extracted steam distillate from blue cheese. These methyl ketones would appear to be formed from the fatty acids in the cheese by beta-oxidation. Similarity in odor between these ketones, particularly heptanone-2 and that of blue cheese was noted by a number of observers during the course of this investigation. It seems probable that minute quantities of these methyl ketones are the constituents which make the flavor of mold-ripened cheeses distinctly different from the flavor of other types of cheese.
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