The Sweet Taste of Success - Part Two
Click here to read The Sweet Taste of Success - Part One.
Enhancement
Out of the Ordinary
Screen Test
Surprise, Surprise
Sweet Effects
Choosing Forms
SIDEBAR
Maltol and ethyl maltol can improve overall flavor, potentiate sweetness, increase the sensation of creaminess, mask bitterness and suppress an acid bite or burn. Marketed under the name VeltolÆ by Cultor Food Science, Ardsley, NY, these ingredients have a mild flavor and sweet caramel-like odor. While both compounds must be labeled as artificial flavors, the product line also includes product enhancers that can be labeled as natural flavor.
The high-intensity sweetener thaumatin is a protein extracted from the Katemfe fruit, which grows in Western Africa. Thaumatin has been shown to interact with most taste receptors, promoting a heightened response to sweeteners and certain flavor compounds. It allows the flavor to be effective over a longer period of time and extends its profile to provide a fuller taste and more body. The ingredient enhances flavors, particularly those with strong notes such as peppermint, ginger, cinnamon and coffee. It has synergistic effects with nutritive as well as high-intensity sweeteners. Flavor-masking of metallic ions - including sodium, potassium and iron - is an additional application. Thaumatin is approved for general use in the United States and has been approved as Flavor Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA) GRAS. Since it is obtained by a natural process, thaumatin can be labeled as an all-natural ingredient.
Licorice extracts, derived from the roots of the licorice plant Glycyrrhiza glabra, also possess flavor-potentiating properties. Marketed under the name MagnasweetÆ by MAFCO Products, Camden, NJ, Magnasweet or licorice extract is the ammonium salt of glycyrrhizic acid. Two forms are available: ammonium glycyrrhizinate (AG) and mono-ammonium glycyrrhizinate (MAG). MAG is a white crystalline powder stable in low pH systems, and retains less of the licorice flavor - this makes it applicable for a range of products. A brown powder, AG has more of the characteristic licorice flavor which can impart an appealing, difficult-to-detect flavor nuance when used at low levels. At higher levels, it can strengthen and improve flavors such as chocolate or maple. AG and MAG are 50 times sweeter than sucrose, and due to Magnasweet's synergistic action with sweeteners, it becomes 100 times sweeter than sucrose when combined with cane sugar. It also will react synergistically with other nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners. Other attributes include the ability to: enhance and magnify natural and artificial flavors; mask bitter and astringent aftertastes; and soften harsh notes. It also can be used for flavor modification at very low levels. Magnasweet is approved as FEMA GRAS.
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Going beyond the obvious can lead the developer into flavor areas that might sound unlikely, but the results speak for themselves. There's no reason why a grape flavor can't be enhanced by a less recognizable flavor such as melon or plum, which provides roundness and depth. Fantasy flavors, or flavors with no real characterizing base flavor, can come from all sorts of unlikely blends and can be great fun to the creative flavorist.
"What the developer is doing is adding interesting notes," says Reineccius, "and even though the product is sweet, the flavors don't necessarily have to be. Odd items can contribute interesting notes - there's really no limit. Garlic oil works nice in butterscotch because it provides a warm feeling, and chocolate often has been enhanced with low levels of fermented soy-based flavors." Using 300 ppm of monosodium glutamate in maple syrup will help open up taste buds, and make the flavor come alive through this very viscous product, Pollock says.
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Many food companies develop a small list of preferred flavor suppliers that their development team must choose from. While this makes ingredient procurement easier, it is often at the expense of the flavor profile. It's difficult to find a flavor company that can be all things to everyone. Tasting five different orange flavors from five different companies will demonstrate how different the interpretation of orange flavor can be. Using only one flavor company limits the developer to the chemicals that the firm uses as building blocks. Often, a flavorist will develop a signature style that, although very appealing, can lead to tiresome and repetitive flavor systems. Some companies specialize in vanilla flavors, while others do a better job with fruit flavors. One company might have a patented technique for spray-drying flavors that could solve stability and shelf-life problems.
Often, a blend of two different company's grape flavors will work synergistically with each other, so mixing and matching can be a great way to obtain a unique creation. Another mistake is to only work with the larger, established players. Flavor quality from some of the smaller and newer companies often is as good as, or better than, some of the industry giants.
When 20 new flavors come in, it's tempting to open the bottle, take a sniff, and make a decision. But flavors shouldn't be screened in their pure state, as many of the notes will appear unbalanced or even unpalatable. The best screening method is trying a flavor in its final application. With a cake, bake a plain batter containing the flavors and evaluate to determine how they interact with other ingredients and heat. With time lines as short as they often are, and 30 flavors staring at you from the shelf, this may be unfeasible. The next best thing is to dilute the flavors in water, comparing them for quality, character and impact. Just as a sprinkle of sugar will tone down the bitterness of a slice of cinnamon toast, sweeteners make flavors come alive. This phenomenon is apparent when screening flavors. Diluting an almond extract in plain water will produce a slightly bitter and unpleasant liquid that would appear to contribute very little to the finished product. Adding sugar will accentuate its rich and fruity notes and bring out flavor more realistically. Many of the components of sweet flavors don't have a very pleasant flavor on their own, so it's important to screen sweet flavors with sweetened water. It also takes a great deal of imagination to recognize the capacity within a flavor.
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Although flavors are typically used at low usage levels, in some specific instances, even a small amount is often enough to have a negative impact. Color changes are one key issue. A natural raspberry flavor, made with real juice extract, might contribute enough natural pigment to turn a granola bar pink, depending on the usage level. Natural vanilla extract is a caramel brown color, and might make a custard appear muddy. Vanillin can react with iron to form a pinkish-colored compound that might prove unappealing in lighter products.
Chemical reactions can occur, resulting in undesirable flavor changes, Reineccius says. Aspartame reacts with aldehydes found in cherry, vanilla and cinnamon, and will lose sweetness, which transfers to flavor delivery. Piña colada flavors often taste soapy. The pineapple flavor contributes lipases, and the coconut flavor adds C-12 fatty acids. Once the lipase activity breaks apart the fatty acids, the result is this objectionable flavor note.
The best way to prevent surprises, or quickly fix them when they occur, is effective and continuing communication with the flavorist.
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Sweet flavors are obviously used most often in sweetened products, and the sweetening system is typically a large percentage of a formulation. Sweeteners affect the flavor by enhancing the profile; providing differing degrees of sweetness; offering their own contributing flavor; and by changing flavor character and delivery in the mouth. This was a problem for the beverage industry when it went from sucrose-sweetened products to dietetic beverages and drinks sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, Reineccius recalls. The same flavor systems no longer delivered as they had previously, resulting in different-tasting beverages that required flavor reformation. The way sweeteners interact with flavors and deliver to the human olfactory system is quite complex and almost totally unpredictable. When flavoring based on sweetness concentration, mildly sweetened products require the use of less flavor as the flavor comes through more clearly. At very high levels, sweetness becomes intense and begins masking the overall flavor. As a result, higher flavor levels are required.
Obviously, molasses, honey, malt syrup and brown sugar all contribute a desirable or undesirable characteristic flavor, in addition to sweetness. But some not-so-obvious sweeteners also contribute their own flavor. Sucrose possesses a flavor that can be overpowering when used at high levels in delicately flavored systems, and glucose can begin contributing a burning or bitter taste in higher concentrations. Some of the polyols impart bitterness and a cooling sensation to varying degrees. Aspartame has a relatively clean flavor, but tends to flatten flavor slightly. Saccharine and sucralose can contribute bitterness or metallic notes, and acesulfame K can have bitter notes at higher concentrations.
Fructose, lactose and glucose are all reducing sugars that take part in the Maillard reaction. This can be desirable in a baked good, or undesirable in a vanilla-flavored HTST-processed beverage that winds up turning a butterscotch color. Not all sweeteners will participate in this reaction at the same level. Higher-DE corn syrups, for instance, react more readily than sucrose, so the choice of sweeteners has a significant impact on the degree of Maillard flavor development.
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SIDEBAR:
Learning the Lingo
It's important for every food scientist to learn the language of flavor, because within every flavor category, a subset of many characterizing flavor descriptors exists. A fruity strawberry can be very unripe and green, very ripe, seedy tasting, or cooked so as to resemble preserves. It's not enough to say one is seeking a chocolate flavor, because the terms tobacco, barny, fruity, musty, milky, woody, oily, green, hay-like and floral all have been used to characterize chocolate flavor. Telling the flavorist one is looking for a vanilla that is creamy, custardy, spicy, smoky, floral, caramellic, baby-powdery or fatty will save time by reducing the number of samples that need to be submitted and screened, resulting in shortened development time.
Discussion can be promoted and expectations clarified by using food-item terminology, such as fruit punch, cough syrup, vanilla wafers or even brand names like Captain CrunchÆ cereal and Juicy FruitÆ gum.
Developers and flavorists must have this list of vocabulary words, and agree on what flavor is being perceived. If one person describes a flavor as "hay-like" and the other person describes the same flavor as "barny," then there should be a common word agreed upon so everyone knows this particular flavor will be described as such. This is not as easy at it might appear, as each individual has his own sensory strengths and abilities to communicate their reactions.
Carol Pollock, director, sweet and beverage flavor creations, Wild Flavors, Inc., Cincinnati, recalls a recent exercise in which a group was tasting blind and there were differences of opinion as to which type of apple a flavor represented. After purchasing eight varieties of apples, and eating them in conjunction with tasting the flavors, it was much easier to match the character to the apple. Having a model is one of the basics for developing a flavor profile.
Lisa Kobs, M.S., is a research food scientist with the food consulting firm of Food Perspectives, Plymouth, MN. © 1998 by Weeks Publishing Company
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