Abstract
Summary: Two Cheddar cheeses were analysed for aldehydes and methyl ketones at intervals during the ripening period. One-day-old cheese was found to contain acetaldehyde and acetone, together with traces of butan-2-one and pentan-2-one. As the cheese matured heptan-2-one, nonan-2-one and undecan-2-one appeared, and the concentrations of all these compounds progressively increased.