Original article Development of free amino acids in Appenzeller,

Sbrinz and Tilsiter chee se is described. During the first five months of cheese ripening, the total amount of the free amino acids increases by 140-290 mg kg-I per day. Gruyère shows the highest increase for 15 amino acids, Appenzeller for valine, methionine, phenylalanine and ornithine, Raclette for Œ- and y-amino butyric acid, Emmentaler for alanine and Sbrinz for arginine. High quality cheese shows higher relative amounts of aspartic acid, asparagine and arginine and lower rel-ative amounts of glycine, alanine, valine, methionine and isoleucine. The significant differences for Emmentaler were reversed for asparagine, alanine and methionine