Picon Bejes-Tresviso blue cheese: an overall biochemical survey throughout the ripening process

The gross and mineral composition, the main physico-chemical parameters, the proteolysis (classical nitrogen fractions and free amino acids) and the lipolysis (acidity index of the fat and free fatty acids) were studied throughout the ripening of three batches of Picon Bejes-Tresviso cheese, a Spanish blue-veined variety. The gross and mineral composition and the physico-chemical parameters do not differ very much from those observed in other Spanish and European blue cheeses. From the figures of the different nitrogen fractions it can be concluded that this cheese undergoes an extensive and profound proteolysis throughout the ripening period. Consequently high levels of total free amino acids were observed; the most abundant amino acids at the end of ripening were valine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine and glutamic acid. Picon Bejes-Tresviso cheese also undergoes an intense lipolysis throughout ripening as the acidity index of the fat and the total free fatty acids values indicated; the most abundant free fatty acid was oleic, followed by palmitic and myristic acid. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.