A comprehensive database of cheese-derived bitter peptides and correlation to their physical properties
Open accessAbstract
Bitterness is a common flavor attribute of aged cheese associated with the peptide fraction, but excessive levels are a defect leading to consumer rejection. Bitterness in cheese has been primarily associated with peptides that arise from the breakdown of casein. The last review of bitter peptides was published in 1992. This updated review compiled information about the bitter peptides published up to 2022. Our comprehensive search of the literature compiled 226 peptides associated with bitterness and cheese protein origins into a database (Supplemental Materials). The influences of a peptide's physical properties, such as molecular weight, average hydrophobicity, peptide length, number of prolines and the presence of hydrophobic amino acids in the peptide's terminus, were assessed for correlation with bitterness threshold values this assessment found that, among variables considered, higher molecular weight had the strongest correlation with higher bitterness among known peptides. Heatmaps of bitter peptides and their bitterness threshold values highlight β-casein as the primary source of known bitter peptides in cheese. This comprehensive database of cheese protein-derived bitter peptides and this discovery of the correlation of a peptide's physical properties to bitterness will aid future researchers in the identification and discovery of contributors to cheese bitterness.
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Higher glutamic acid content contributed to reduced bitterness in the cheese.
“with the higher glutamic acid content contributing to reduced bitterness in the cheese (Kuhfeld et al., 2024).”
From Impact of lactic acid bacteria coculture on the quality characteristics of goat cheese during ripening (2025) · cites this paper as Kuhfeld et al., 2024
The Background discusses cheese bitterness in relation to bitter peptides and cheesemaking factors, but does not link higher glutamic acid content to reduced bitterness. A search for “glutamic” found a mention in Literature search correcting a peptide sequence, not a finding about glutamic acid content or bitterness in cheese. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Kuhfeld, R. F., Eshpari, H., Kim, B. J., Kuhfeld, M. R., Atamer, Z., & Dallas, D. C. (2024) · Food Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.138111 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Kuhfeld, R. F., Eshpari, H., Atamer, Z., & Dallas, D. C.
- Affiliations
- Oregon State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kuhfeld, R. F.
- Venue
- Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2023-06-28
- Volume
- 64
- Issue
- 27
- Pages
- 10105-10119
- ISSN
- 1040-8398 (ISSN-L)
- 1549-7852
- OpenAlex
- W4382343928
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 2
- FWCI
- 1.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Hydrolysis and Bioactive Peptides
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Proteins in Food Systems
- Keywords
- cheese bitterness, bitter peptides, aged cheese, casein hydrolysis, β-casein, molecular weight, hydrophobicity, proline content, peptide database
- MeSH terms
- Caseins, Cheese, Humans, Molecular Weight, Peptides, Taste, Databases, Factual, Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
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