This work aimed to determine the formation over time of 3-methylbutanal and 3-methylbutan-1-ol recognized as malty during the manufacture of Raclette-type cheese and the fermention of reconstituted skim milk, and filter-sterilized MRS broth. Using dynamic headspace-vacuum transfer in trap extraction followed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry-olfactometry (DHS-VTT-GC-MS-O) as a screening method for the malty compounds, five compounds (2-methylpropanal, 2- and 3-methylbutanal, and 2- and 3-methylbutan-1-ol) were identified as potential compounds causing the malty aroma in starter culture development and Raclette-type cheeses. Focus on compounds having a predominant sensorial effect (3-methylbutanal and 3-methylbutan-1-ol), spikings of leucine, 13C-labeled leucine, α-ketoisocaproic acid, and α-ketoglutaric acid provided a better understanding of their formation pathway. This study highlighted the discrepancies in the formation of 3-methylbutanal and 3-methylbutan-1-ol between the growth media; namely, despite the presence of free leucine available in MRS and the addition of an excess, no increase of the target compounds was observed. The concentration of these compounds in MRS increased only when α-ketoglutaric acid or α-ketoisocaproic acid was added, and a preference for the pathway to α-hydroxyisocaproic acid instead of 3-methylbutanal was shown. In addition, a formation of 3-methylbutanal when the bacteria were not yet active was observed when spiking α-ketoisocaproic acid, which potentially indicates that this part of the metabolism could take place extracellularly. These results could potentially unveil other, not-yet-identified reactants, directly influencing the production of compounds responsible for the malty aroma in Raclette cheese.
Keywords: 3-methylbutan-1-ol; 3-methylbutanal; DHS-VTT; GC−MS; Raclette; cheese; malt aroma; olfactometry.