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Methyl Sulfide and the Flavor of Milk^1,2,

Pennsylvania State University

ABSTRACT

Normal milk is described as having a faint characteristic flavor, perhaps best defined by the term "cowy." The specific compounds responsible for this flavor have not been identified. The flavor is generally attributed to a complex mixture of lower fatty acids, "acetone bodies," and other regularly occurring volatile products (1). This communication presents preliminary evidence that milk contains the volatile product, methyl sulfide, (CH₃)₂S, b.p. .38° C. This compound is evident by odor in the head space of a cold wall tank of milk, and it may contribute significantly to the characteristic flavor of milk.

In order to recover some of the volatiles of milk, the exhaust gases from an air-agitated, 1,000-gal., cold wall tank of raw whole milk were passed through various trapping solutions or over activated coconut charcoal. On the supposition that methyl sulfide is present in such gases, a 1% aqueous HgCl₂ solution was employed as a trapping agent.

¹ Authorized for publication on July 25, 1956, as paper No. 2078 in the Journal series of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experimental Station.

² Research undertaken in cooperation with the Quartermaster Food and Container Institute for the Armed Forces and assigned No. 673 in the series of papers approved for publication. The views or conclusions contained in the report are those of the authors and are not to be construed as reflecting the views or endorsements of the Department of Defense.