The metabolism of fatty acids, methyl ketones and secondary alcohols by Penicillium roqueforti in blue cheese slurries.

A slurry system in which Blue cheese flavour was produced in six days was developed and used to study the metabolism of fatty acids, methyl ketones and secondary alcohols by Penicillium roqueforti. It was found that fatty acids inhibited lipolysis but that far greater quantities of methyl ketones were produced when fatty acids were added to the slurries than when fatty acids were produced by the lipolytic activity of P. roqueforti. Methyl ketones and secondary alcohols added to Blue cheese slurries in quantities ten times as great as those found in mature Blue cheese were broken down within 7 days And the presence of fatty acids did not appreciably inhibit this breakdown.