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The Creatine Test for Acetylmethylcarbinol Plus Diacetyl in Butter Cultures^*

Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa

ABSTRACT

The investigations of van Niel, Kluyver and Derx (8) and of Schmalfuss and Barthmeyer (7) established the importance of diacetyl as an aroma constituent of butter and suggested that the diacetyl is formed through the oxidation of acetylmethylcarbinol. Following these studies, the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station (4) reported data showing that butter cultures having a satisfactory flavor and aroma contain relatively large amounts of acetylmethylcarbinol plus diacetyl, while butter cultures lacking in flavor and aroma contain comparatively small amounts or none of these materials.

The quantitative determination of acetylmethylcarbinol plus diacetyl in a butter culture usually involves the steam distillation of a portion of the culture, after adding ferric chloride to oxidize the acetylmethylcarbinol to diacetyl, and the precipitation of the distilled diacetyl (both that originally present and that formed from the acetylmethylcarbinol) as nickeldimethyl-glyoximate, which is filtered off and weighed. This procedure is time-consuming and can be carried out only with considerable laboratory equipment.

^* Journal Paper No. J-255 of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Project No. 127.