Accumulation of Volatile Flavour Compounds in Liquid Cultures of Kluyveromyces lactis Strains

Abstract

Abstract The accumulation of volatile flavour constituents in liquid cultures of three Kluyveromyces lactis strains was studied after cultivation on defined culture media containing glucose as carbon source, yeast extract, vitamines, and different additional nitrogen compounds. Besides short-chain alcohols and esters (fruit esters), 2-phenylethyl alcohol, phenylacetaldehyde, and 2-phenylethyl esters could be identified by gas chromatography and coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Although the composition of these compounds was qualitatively comparable within the three strains investigated, quantitative differences were significant and strain-dependent reactions to the culture medium could be observed.