Why Does This Cheese Taste So Gouda?
Scientists in Germany combined mass spectrometry and other analytical instruments and sensory tools to identify six gamma-glutamyl peptides that appear to be responsible for the complex, long-lasting flavor of Gouda cheese.
Scientists in Germany combined mass spectrometry and other analytical instruments and sensory tools to identify six gamma-glutamyl peptides that appear to be responsible for the complex, long-lasting flavor of Gouda cheese. They compared 4-week-old Gouda to a Gouda that had been aged 44 weeks, which had a more intense “kokumi sensation,” or heartiness, when sampled by a taste panel. The six peptides were present in much greater quantities in the aged cheese, accounting for its richer flavor. Because the 4-week-old cheese lacked this intense kokumi sensation, the researchers concluded that the six peptides develop during the ripening process. According to the researchers, their discovery could lead to the development of more flavorful cheeses and other dairy products by technological means.
Improving Fluorescence and Raman Techniques for Environmental Microplastic Analysis
March 31st 2025A recent study conducted at the LaserLaB Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (the Netherlands) explored spectroscopic imaging techniques, including Raman and fluorescence microscopy, for characterizing microplastics (MPs), focusing on optimizing sample preparation, particularly density separation, and Nile Red staining.Spectroscopy spoke to Merel Konings, corresponding author of the paper resulting from the study, about her work
New Study Provides Insights into Chiral Smectic Phases
March 31st 2025Researchers from the Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences have unveiled new insights into the molecular arrangement of the 7HH6 compound’s smectic phases using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy.
