FOOD FLAVOR

History of Flavor Industry

2009-11-09T03:25:00.000-08:00

History of Flavor Industry
Human are decisively influenced by their sense of taste and odour and human history is, therefore, closely tied to the development and usage of flavors.

Whereas in prehistoric times, only herbs and species could be employed for flavoring purposes, today a broad spectrum of flavorings is available, not only for use in the individual household, but especially for the production of food on an industrial scale.

The application of all products from the flavor and fragrance industry is solely aimed at enhancing the human striving for increased pleasure and sensual enjoyment.

Hedonistic aspects, therefore, form the basis of our industry.

The roots of this industry date back to early Egyptian history, as this extraordinarily advanced civilization was already thoroughly aware of and acquainted with perfumery and the embalming characteristics of certain species and resins.

Simple methods for the distillation and extraction of essential oils and resins already known in pre Christian times and subsequently elaborated by the Arabs.

Balsamic oils produced by these methods were later on primarily used for pharmaceutical purposes; it was not before the times of the courtly baroque period that fragrance was an aspect of growing importance.

In the medieval age, mostly monks were the pioneers in the art of capturing natural essences and transforming them into substances capable of flavoring food.

The onset of the industrial production of essential oils can be dated back to the first half of the 19th century.

After the importance of single chemicals was recognized in the middle of the century, efforts were started to isolate such compounds from corresponding natural resources for the first time.

This was soon followed by the synthesis of aroma chemicals.

Generally, the dynamics of the flavor and fragrance industry mirror the trend of many industrial sectors: the most important representatives of a large number of nationally oriented companies have through mergers, acquisitions, and market expansion developed into globally operating multinational enterprises.
History of Flavor Industry

Thyme history and uses

2009-10-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

Thyme history and uses
The rubbed thyme herb of commerce is derived from the flowering tops of two species of thyme which grow wild on the vast heathlands of southeast Spain, along the coats of the Mediterranean and on the source slopes of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

The entire herb is harvested when the flowers are fully open during July and August, the cut herb being distilled in field stills to give 0.6 to 1.0% of a yellowish-red essential oil.

The oil color of the oil may darken considerably due to iron contamination from the stills.

Odor: rich, sweet, pleasingly aromatic. Initially warming then cooling with a slight anesthetic effect.

Flavor: sweet, phenolic, medicinal sharp, biting.

History
Several explanations exist concerning the origin of the name ‘Thymus’. Some authors assume that the Latin name Thymus comes from the Greek word thyo (perfume).

Another interpretation of its etymology considers the Greek word thymos (sources, strength).

Originally ‘thymus’ described a group of aromatic plants with similar aspects which were used as stimulants of vital functions.

Many popular names in the Romance languages are derived from the Latin name.

In his work about medicinal plants and poisons, Dioscorides writes about ‘Thymo’. Laguna however did not find ether any Thymus species but a plant corresponding to the genus Satureja.
It is presented as an erect plant, whereas the former shows a creeping habit.

In his Natural History, Plinio reports on T. vulgari as follows: ‘in the Narbonne province, the stony fields are full of thyme and thousands of sheep come from very far provinces to feed on it’.

Later page he speaks about two different varieties of thyme, a white and a black one, and he comments on their therapeutic attributes.

Uses
Thyme takes its place in herbal medicine with other old fashioned “simples,” like sage and lavender, as a treatment for a variety of ailments.

You may have noticed its flavor in cough medicines. It has also serves as a carminative, vermifuge, rubefacient and antiseptic.

Thyme is particularly beneficial in quieting gastrointestinal complaints and it was boiled in wine for a digestive drink.

A tea has been prescribed for shortness of breath and congested lungs.

The Greek used thyme for nervous conditions, as an antiseptic, and as a fumigator.

Apparently, the herb has antispasmodic qualities that make it effective in relieving asthma, whooping cough and stomach cramps.

In culinary, Thyme tastes delicately green with a faint clove aftertaste. It ranks as one of the fines herbes of French cuisine.

Leaves and sprigs are used in salads as garnishes and most famously in clam chowder, bouquets garnis and French, Creole and Cajun cuisines.

Thyme work well with veal, lamb, beef, poultry, fish, poultry stuffing, pates, sausages, stew, soups, stocks, bread, herbed butter, herbed mayonnaise, flavored vinegars, mustard and bean and lentil casseroles.
Thyme history and uses

Aspartame

2009-10-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

Aspartame
Aspartame is the common name for aspartyl-phenylalanine. It is combination of the two amino acids from which its name is derived.

First produced in 1969, it is required to be about 180 times sweeter than sucrose.

Like cyclamate, it was approved and later banned by FDA. Exhaustive evidence of its safety have been presented by animal testing and by definition of its metabolic fate in animals and humans, It was subsequently reinstated, as safe for use by the FDA.

Unlike saccharin and cyclamate, aspartame leaves no bitter aftertaste. It is quite expensive, about 200 times more so than sucrose, but as it is about 180 times sweeter than sucrose, its cost for obtaining a given unit of sweetness is not much more.
Aspartame

Chocolate Flavor and Aroma

2009-09-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Flavor and Aroma
The essential role played by correct fermentation and drying of the cacao beans in developing the ultimate flavor of the chocolate has been emphasized.

The true chocolate flavor is finally developed by the roasting process.

Early attempts in 1912 to isolate chocolate “aroma” used the process of steam distillation of roasted cacao followed by hexane extraction.

Linalool was identified as a major component of the extract together with variety of acids and esters. Later it was identified to be more compounds.

In 1958, researcher applied the relatively new gas chromatography technique and added to the list.

The fundamental stages in the formation of chocolate aroma begin with the production of flavor precursors during the tropical fermentation, and these are change at the bean roasting stage into compounds typical; of the true chocolate flavor.

It noted that in 1937 that cocoa butter from well-fermented beans produced no chocolate flavor on roasting – the precursor were therefore not in the fat phase.

It is also found that the precursors were soluble in methanol, and both of these facts formed a very useful basis for later experimental work.

However despite the observation on cocoa butter, this fat does contribute certain flavor characteristics to chocolate, particularly milk chocolate, and the nature of the flavor depends on the method of extraction, the degree of roast and whether it is obtained from alkalized or unalkalized nibs.

For milk chocolate, deodorized or partly deodorized cocoa butter is often used.

Later research work on the precursors produced evidence that amino acids and sugars are concerned in the formation of finals “aroma” compounds and in the roasting process it has been shown that degrading of both free amino acids and reducing sugars occurs.
Chocolate Flavor and Aroma

Association between Fruit Juice and Flavor

2009-09-11T23:36:00.000-07:00

Association between Fruit Juice and Flavor
There has been a long association between fruit juices and flavorings. Traditionally, fruit flavorings were some of the earliest types available and because of their relative simplicity, they have often been used to enhance or substitute for fruit juices in beverages.

Fruit juices and their components also play a very important part in many flavorings, with concentrated frequently used as a base to which other components may be added.

With the growth in interest and demand for natural flavors, fruit juice components are an essential source of these ingredients, although they are rarely, if ever, combined in the same proportions as in the original fruit juice.

The biological function of fruits is to be attractive to animas to ensure distribution of the seed via animal feces or in then case of larger fruits, to provide a bed of rotting humus in which the seed may develop.

In contrast to many other vegetable products such as cereals the starting point for juice production is the tender freshly fruit which is prone to more r less rapid decay.

This instability is increased once the fruit is broken to initiate a process and in consequence, all man’s early attempts to utilize fruit juices ended in fermented products such as wine or cider.

Early in the nineteenth century, Appert (1775-1841) showed that fruit juices should be stabilized by heat treatment after bottling and in 1860 the discoveries of Pasteur provided a scientific background for this observation.

In both Europe and the United States, the commercial production of pasteurized fruit juice began late in the nineteenth century, but it was not until the second quarter of the twentieth century that technical and commercial development of fruit juice really began to significant.

With availability of fruit juice came increasing consumption and their incorporation into other products such as soft drinks.

The word-wide availability of fruit juices is now taken for granted and the manufacturing industry is large complex and well organized.

There has always been a close link between flavorings and fruit juices, with synthetic materials used to extend and enhance juices. Juices themselves, particularly concentrates and volatile fractions are being increasingly used as components of flavorings. This trend has become more noticeable as the demand for natural flavorings has increased.
Association between Fruit Juice and Flavor

Taste Affecting Factors

2009-09-03T18:05:00.000-07:00

Taste Affecting Factors
People vary in their sensitivity to different tastes. Sensitivity depends on the length of time allowed to taste a substance.

Sweet and slat tastes are detected quickly (in less than a second), because they are detected by taste buds in the tip of the tongue, in addition, they are usually very soluble compounds.

Bitter compounds, on the other hand may take a full second to be detected because they are detected at the back of the tongue.

The taste may linger, producing a bitter aftertaste.

Sensitivity to a particular taste also depends on the concentration of the substance responsible for the taste.

The threshold concentration is defined as the concentration required for identification of a particular substance.

The threshold concentration may vary from person to a person: some people are more sensitive to a particular taste than others and therefore are able to detect it at a lower concentration.

Below a threshold concentration, a substance would not be identified but may affect the perception of another taste.

For example subthreshold salt levels increase perceived sweetness and decrease perceived acidity, whereas subthreshold sugar concentrations make a food taste less salty than it actually is.

Although it is not clear why, flavor enhancers such as MSG also affect taste sensitivity by intensifying a particular taste in a food.

Temperature of food also affects its flavor. Warm foods generally taste stronger and sweeter than cold foods. For example, melted ice cream tastes much sweeter than frozen ice cream.

There are two reasons for the effects of temperature on flavor. The volatility of substance is increased at higher temperatures, and so they smell stronger.

Taste bud receptivity also is an important factor. Taste buds are most receptive in the region between 68 and 86 degree F and so taste will be more intense in this temperature range.

Psychological factor also affect taste sensitivity and perception. Judgments about flavor are often influenced by preconceived ideas based on the appearance of the food or on previous experience with a similar food.

For example, strawberry flavored foods would be expected to be red. However, if colored green, because of the association of green foods with flavors such as lime, it would be difficult to identify the flavor as strawberry unless it was very strong.

Color intensity also affects flavor perception. A stronger color may also cause perception of a stronger flavor in a product, even of the stronger color is simply due to the addition of more food coloring.

Texture also can be misleading. A thicker product may be perceived as tasting richer or stronger simply because it is thicker and not because the thickening agent affects the flavor of the food.

Other psychological factors that may come into play when making judgments about the flavor of foods include time of day (for example, certain tastes are preferred at breakfast time), general sense of well being, health and previous reactions to a particular food or taste.
Taste Affecting Factors

Cornmint Oil

2009-08-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

Cornmint Oil
Mentha arvensis. About 7,100 tons of cornmint oil (sometimes incorrectly called Chinese peppermint oil) are produce annually.

It is almost al converted into menthol (2,800 tons) and dementholized oil (4,300 tons).

China accounts for around 65% of the world production and India accounts for most of the remainder.

Dried plants yield 2,5% oil by steam distillation.

Cheap synthetic menthol has reduced the demand for cornmint oil into the main markets in the United States, Western Europe and Japan.

The major quantitative components of the dementholized oil typically:

35% laevo menthol
30% laevo menthone
8% iso-menthone
5% limonene
3% laevo menthyl acetate
3% piperitone
1% octan -3-ol

Cornmint oil contains about 1% of pulegone which is suspected of being toxic.

The raw oils are rectified to remove some of the front and back fractions. Careful blending of fractions can reduce the characteristically harsh odor of cornmint oil but it still remains much less attractive than peppermint oil. Adulteration of cornmint oil is not a commercially attractive proposition.

Most cornmint oils are used to give cheap peppermint flavor to a wide range of application, often blended with true peppermint oil. It is more frequently used in blended flavors that peppermint oil because of its price advantage.
Cornmint Oil

The Benefits of Flavor

2009-07-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

The Benefits of Flavor
Flavorful food is a joy and a pleasure that needs no excuse or justification. Nevertheless, it is actually healthy as well.

Flavor can guide us in making nutritional choices, as mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, but that is not all.

What the physiologists call the hedonistic aspect of taste, in this case the sheer delight that good seasonings can bring to eating apparently has real health benefits.

Good flavor, or even anticipated good flavor suggested by the appetizing appearance and smell of the food, cause saliva to gather in the mouth.

Saliva contains an enzyme that begins digestion, especially of the starches and it also helps moisten and soften for food swallowing.

The stomach also responds to pleasant flavors by secreting extra gastric juices.

So the better the flavor, the better our digestion, and the more comfortable healthy and well nourished we are.

Consider the so-called “French paradox”: the traditional French diet is heavy with cholesterol-laden foods – cream, butter, eggs, red meats, cheeses, goose liver – and French eaters do have high cholesterol levels in their blood, but the do not have the high rate of heart attacks that American doctors associates with this condition.

One of the most convincing hypotheses put forward to explain this paradox is that in France the traditional relaxed enjoyment of good, flavorful food at the table is what keeps the heart attacks away.

Seasoning can make appetizing the foods that the doctor orders, by they low salt, no cholesterol or simply more vegetable.

A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down; a handful of herbs nicely compensates for salt; and intriguing spices make-up for lowering the fat content.
The Benefits of Flavor

Sicilian Lemon Oil

2009-07-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Sicilian Lemon Oil
The methods used for oil extraction of Sicilian lemon oil are:

Hand pressing

Sponge
Ecuelle

Machine processing
Two methods are use:

Sfumatrici – The fruit is halved and the juice first expressed by reaming. The peels are then individually pressed to release the oil.
Pellatrice. The whole fruit in a fine stream of water, the oil and cellular detritus being separated and the water recycled. The oil is obtained by centrifuged the liquor and pressing the solid matter.

The oxygenated constituents of lemon oil, to which the oil owes most of its odor and flavor, are the more soluble in water and for the highest quality oil it is desirable to separate it from any aqueous phase as rapidly as possible.

Although widely used, centrifuging is not an entirely satisfactory method of achieving separation owing to the formation of persistent emulsions.

Lemon tree tend to produce fruit continuously but the age of the tree and growing conditions result in a more-or-less seasonal cropping.
Sicilian Lemon Oil

Lactose and Maltose

2009-07-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

Lactose and Maltose
Lactose
Lactose (C12H22O11) the sugar component of mammalian milk, is less sweet and less water soluble than sucrose.

While babies and young children generally are able to metabolize this sugar, some are unable to do so.

The ability to metabolize the sugar appears to decrease with age. When a person is unable to metabolize lactose, the ingestion of milk may cause intestinal discomfort, cramps and diarrhea.

The major source of lactose is whey, a cheese by product. Because lactose is not as sweet as sucrose, larger amounts can be used in this foods in which the texture benefits from a high solids content.

Maltose
Maltose (C12H22O11) or malt sugar is produced during the malting process in brewing (enzyme conversion of starch).

It is converted to alcohol by the action of yeasts through an intermediate conversion to dextrose.
This sugar is much less sweet than sucrose, and it is used mainly in the manufacturing of baked food and infant foods.
Lactose and Maltose

Black and White Pepper

2009-06-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

Black and White Pepper
The pepper of commerce is produced from unripe fruits of the perennial climbing vine and is available in two distinct forms – black pepper and white pepper.

The former consists of the whole dried fruits picked while still green and sun dried.

During drying they turn to a brownish black color with the individual peppercorns having a much wrinkled outer skin.

White pepper is the dried kernel of the fruits which are gathered when they are just turning slightly yellow.

The fruit are subsequently soaked in water to soften and loosen the outer skin which is then removed by friction, white peppercorns are smooth surfaced.

Pepper originated in the Western Ghats of India from where it has spread to many parts of tropical Asia, notably Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

As a seasoning and condiment, pepper is second to none, and its use is ubiquitous.

The distinctive odor and flavor of pepper overlie its pungency due to its essential oil content which varies both quantitatively and qualitatively between sources and varieties.

The chemical composition of the oil is complex and is present from 1 to 3%.

The oil from white pepper contains similar components to that from black pepper are markedly different from that of the spice stored in a ground condition as regular users of the domestic pepper mill will readily attest.

Not only does the ground material soon lose it pleasing freshness but it also develops an obvious and insistent ammoniacal note which detracts from its true peppery character.

The profile of essential oil distilled directly from freshly crushed peppercorns has a most attractive nuance much appreciated in blending of high quality, spicy fragrances.
Black and White Pepper

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

2009-05-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
Glutamic acid was isolated by Ritthausen.

In 1098 Ikeda found that MSG is the beneficial active component of the algae Lamniria japonica, used for a long time in Japan as a flavor improver of soup and similarly prepared soup.

The taste of MSG cannot be explained by a combination of sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastes.

It is, as the fifth quality, of an elementary nature. This assumption, which was made as early as 1908 by a Japanese researcher to explain the special taste called umami, was recently confirmed by the identification of a taste receptor for MSG.

Indeed MSG is one of the most important taste-bearing substances in meat and ripened for longer periods of time.

Reports by Japanese researchers that glutamyl peptides, e.g., Glu-Glu, also taste like MSG have not been confirmed.

The taste of MSG is intensified by certain nucleotides. Glutamate promotes sensory perception particularly of meat like aroma notes, and is frequently used as an additive in frozen, dehydrated or canned fish and meat products.

MSG is added in the concentration range of 0.2 – 0.8%.

The intake of larger amount of MSG by some hypersensitivity persons can trigger a “Chinese restaurant syndrome”, which is characterized by temporary disorders such as drowsiness, headache, and stomach ache and stiffening of joints. These disappear after a short time.
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

Garlic Oil

2009-05-04T03:51:00.000-07:00

Garlic Oil
The essential oil of garlic can be recovered by steam distillation of the freshly crushed cloves, the yielding being 0.1 to 0.2%.

Garlic oil is a powerful flavoring agent and is widely used in seasonings either as a liquid flavor or dispersed as a dry-carrier.

Many problems arise when fresh garlic is included in a food product.

The commercially-available vegetable occurs as a compound bulb made up of 10 to 14 small “cloves” encased in a tough outer skin.

The bulb must first be cleaned and sorted, the outer tissues removed and the cloves separated. The garlic is then ready for mincing, cutting or crushing.

The whole process is tedious and the manufacturing department becomes permeated with the smell.

This can give rise to the problem of cross-contamination unless great care is taken.

Like all other natural products, the flavoring effect of fresh garlic is variable whereas that of garlic oil is relatively consistent.

It is not surprising, therefore, that garlic oil is now widely used in place of the fresh vegetable.

To overcome the objectionable odor associated with both fresh garlic and garlic oil, the use of an encapsulated garlic oil is strongly recommended.

This dry powder is almost free of odor and does not release its contents until the capsule is broken down by admixture with water.
Garlic Oil

Taste and smell

2009-04-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

Taste and smell
Taste and smell, described as our two chemical senses, work together in our perception of the flavor of food.

The process is extremely complex and not completely understood. Neither the tongue nor the nose alone is sufficient to experience flavor; we must have the combination of taste and aroma, as the brain registers signals from the taste buds and mouth and from the olfactory sensory cells at the roof of the nasal passage.

In addition, the sense of touch is inextricably involved in our experience, as we react to the “mouth-feel” of food, determined by its texture and c0nsistency.

The temperature of food, as well as the presence of certain chemicals which we describes as “hot” (as in chilies) or “cool” (as in mints) are also factors.

Piquant foods actually cause a degree of pain, in a way that offends some eaters but excites and pleases others. The look of food before we eat is important, as are the sounds we hear – crunchy, squeaky, slurpy, fizzy, and so on – as we chew and swallow.

And finally a feeling of satisfaction, satiety, or even bloatedness, or the discovery that “it tastes like more,” all contribute to the profound experience of savoring our food.

Moreover, these sensations are modified by our mood at the moment, our state of health, our expectations, nostalgia and the taboos and aversions.

Our sense of smell, while perhaps dull in comparison to most other mammals’, is nonetheless extremely subtle, and we can discriminate among thousands of different scents.

In contrast, the gustatory sense - the perceptions communicated by the taste buds – is usually regarded as rather crude, being limited to just four basic tastes: sweet, sour (or acid), bitter and salty.

This theory is by no means universally accepted, however, some physiologists and some culinary cultures suggest that there are one or more additional basic tastes, variously describe as earthy, metallic, stringent, alkaline (soapy), or spicy (pungent).

It is difficult to specify precisely what is meant by these terms, and some of them may overlap. Our problem is identifying the basic tastes may reflect a physiological fact: Although the question of how many basic tastes there are goes back at least to Aristotle, no one has yet demonstrated that such a thing as a basic taste actually exists.
Taste and smell

Lemon

2009-04-05T04:03:00.000-07:00

Lemon
Lemons are the fruits of the tree Citrus limon L. Burm. which is extensively cultivated in Sicily, Italy and California and to a limited extent in Florida, Spain, Brazil and Argentina although the tree will grow in many other areas having a typical Mediterranean type of climate.

The ovoid fruits are from 2.5 to 4 inch in length, the yellow rind enclosing 8 to 10 fleshy segments, the cells of which contain a very acidic juice.

The essential oil is recovered from the peel by cold expression or by distillation, depending upon the region of production.
Lemon

Sweeteners

2009-03-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

Sweeteners
Lactose
Lactose the sugar component of mammalian milks is less sweet and less water-soluble than sucrose.

While babies and young children generally are able to metabolize this sugar some are unable to do so.

The ability to metabolize the sugar appears to decrease with age. When a person is unable to metabolize lactose, the ingestion of milk may cause intestinal discomfort, cramps and diarrhea.

The major source of lactose is whey, a cheese by-product.

Because lactose is not sweet as sucrose, larger amounts can be used in those foods in which the texture benefits from a high solids content.

Maltose
Maltose or malt sugar is produced during the malting process in brewing (enzyme conversion of starch).

It is converted to alcohol by the action of yeast through an intermediate conversion to dextrose.

This sugar is much less sweet than sucrose, and it is used mainly in the manufactured to baked and infants foods.

Saccharin
Saccharin, the imide of o-benzosulfonic acid, is used as a sodium or calcium salt. It is about 300 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar).

It may leave a bitter after taste and its safety has been questioned as a result of some animal feeding tests.

As an intense sweetener it is useful for diabetes and it reduces the incidence of dental caries.

Cyclamate
In many cases it was used together with saccharin. Cyclamate is not as sweet as saccharin by weight, but it is about 30 times sweeter than sucrose. Like saccharin, it has been used as sodium or calcium salt.
Sweeteners

Flavoring Agents

2009-02-20T01:30:00.000-08:00

Flavoring Agents
Flavoring agents are the largest single group of food additives. Food and beverage applications of flavors include dairy, fruit, nut, seafood, spice blends, vegetables and wine flavoring agents. They may complement, magnify, or modify the taste and aroma of the foods.

There are over 1200 different flavoring agents used in foods to create flavor or replenish flavors lost or diminished in processing, and hundreds of chemicals may be used to simulate nature flavors. Alcohols, esters, aldehydes, ketones, protein hydrolysates and MSG are examples of flavoring agents.

Natural flavoring substances are extracted from plants, herbs and spices, animals, or microbial fermentations. They also include essential oils and oleoresins (created by solvent extract with solvent removed), herbs, spices and sweetness.

Synthetic flavoring agents are chemically similar to natural flavorings, and offer increased consistency in use and availability. They may be less expensive and more readily available than the natural counterpart although they may not adequately simulate the natural flavor. Some examples of synthetic flavoring agents include amyl acetate, used as banana flavoring benzaldehyde, used to create cherry or almond flavor, ethyl butyrate for pineapple, methyl anthranilate for grape, methyl salicylate for wintergreen flavor, and fumaric acid, which is an ideal source of tartness and acidity in dry foods.

Flavor enhancers such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) intensify or “bring out,” enhance or supplement the flavor of other compounds in food; they have a taste outside of the basic sweet, sour, salty or bitter. Monosodium glutamate was chemically derived from seaweed in the early 1900s, but is manufactured commercially by the fermentation of starch, molasses, or sugar.
Flavoring Agents

Flavors and Colors of Softdrinks: The History

2009-02-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Flavors and Colors of Softdrinks: The History
Original carbonates were artificial imitations of naturally occurring mineral waters. Manufactures blended mineral salts in the same proportions as found in the natural spring waters and added carbonated water. A large range of such waters was available during the early 1800s. Early attempts at producing flavored products were limited by a lack of stable flavoring and spoilage problems.

The flavoring materials used consisted mainly of herbal/botanical extracts, for example, ginger, nettle, nutmeg, horehound, lemon oil, vanilla etc., but the technology for manufacture of soluble stable flavoring extracts develop rapidly during the middle of the century with the establishment around this time of many specialty flavor companies.

An early recipe for lemonade consisted of citric acid essential oil of lemon and sugar syrup, the mixture being topped up with water and impregnated with carbon dioxide – instantly recognizable as the forerunner of today’s lemonade.

By the second half of the century, carbonate manufacturers could buy a very comprehensive range of flavors to use in their products and the science of flavor chemistry as well under way. As demonstrated by the development of artificial vanilla by Tiemann and Wallach in 1872. This reduced the cost of vanilla flavor by factor of more than x30.

Many of the popular drinks of today were on sale before 1900. The quantity of CO2 added to a drink has a pronounced effect upon its clear character and flavor impact. The solubility of CO2 in water decreases as temperature increases but increases with increasing pressure, that is, a given level of carbonation will generate a higher pressure as the temperature increases. Ice cold water (0 degree C) will dissolve 1.7 volumes (3.4 g/l) of CO2 at atmospheric pressure.

At CO2 levels and at temperatures above this, increased pressure must be applied to retain the CO2 in solution. In some of his early highly carbonated waters Nicholas Paul used carbonations of up to eight volumes of CO2 (16 g/l): however, the usual carbonation levels now range from about two volumes for a slightly sparkling fruit drinks to around five volumes for a mixer drink such as tonic water.

In the early 1800s, colors were restricted to mainly variants of brown and red that is, those which could be produced from caramel or cochineal. This remained the case until the introduction of synthetic aniline dyes around 1880. In 1885 the manufacturing of some colors from vegetable extracts but that there was a trend for these to be replaced by the new aniline-based dyes, even though these are considered objectionably by many. It also strongly warned manufacturers not to use colors such as arsenic sulphate, lead chromate, mercury sulphate and copper arsenite, which it claimed were sometimes used to color confectionary.
Flavors and Colors of Softdrinks: The History

Garlic

2009-02-02T01:57:00.000-08:00

Garlic
Botanically name Allium sativum, L. Because of their attractive flavor and acknowledged medicinal properties the bulb or “cloves” of garlic have been used in the cuisine of most Mediterranean countries since the dawn of history.

Like onions the entire cloves are almost without odor but once cut or bruised they produce an intensity strong and characteristics odor which too many is obnoxious.

The chemistry of the compounds responsible for the garlic profile is similar to the found in onion. The differences are attributed to qualitative and quantitative differences in the precursors present; the active ingredients being primarily allyl (2-propenyl) sulfides together with much smaller amounts of methyl and 1-prophykl compounds.

The flavor of onion and garlic is complementary the former being mild and sweet whereas the latter is harsh and insistent, because of its relatively high flavoring power, garlic is frequently blended with onion in order to increase the initial impact of the onion but this can only be done to a very limited extent as garlic is quickly recognizable as such and its flavor associations are not always acceptable.

If garlic is incorporated into an end product which is to be distributed in a container such as a screw capped bottle or jar, the head space above the product nearly always has a higher proportion of the garlic odor.

This may be detectable as such and detract from the product even though the product itself may not contain a sufficient level of garlic to be noticeable when the product is consumed.
Garlic

Cornmint Oil

2009-01-10T21:21:00.001-08:00

Cornmint Oil
Botanically name Mentha Arvensis. About 7,100 tons of cornmint oil (sometimes incorrectly called Chinese peppermint oil) are produced annually.

It is almost all converted into menthol (2,800 tons) and dementholized oil (4,300 tons). China accounts for around 65% of the world production and India accounts for most of the remainder.

Dried plants yield 2.5% oil by steam distillation. Cheap synthetic menthol has reduced the demand for cornmint oil into the main markets in the Unites States, Western Europe and Japan.

The major quantitative components of the dementholized oil are typically:
35% laevo- menthol (cooling, light, mint)
30% laevo-menthone (harsh, herbal, mint)
8% iso-menthone (harsh, herbal, mint)
5%limonene (weak light, citrus)
3% laevo-menthyl acetate (light, cedar, mint)
3% piperitone (herbal, mint)
1% octa-3-ol (herbal, oily)

Cornmint oil contains about 1% of pulegone (pennyroyal mint odor) which is suspected of being toxic. The raw oils are rectified to remove some of the front and back fractions.

Careful blending of fractions can reduce the characteristically harsh odor of cornmint oil but it still remains much less attractive than peppermint oil. Adulteration of cornmint oil is not a commercially attractive proposition.

Most cornmint oils are used to give a cheap peppermint flavor to a wide range of applications often blended with true peppermint oil. It is more frequently used in blended flavors than peppermint oil because of its price advantage.
Cornmint Oil

The Citrus Fruits

2008-12-27T06:59:00.000-08:00

The Citrus Fruits
This genus of the family Rutaceae includes lemon, orange (both sweet and bitter), mandarin (or tangerine), lime and grapefruit in addition to very many other fruits which are pleasant to eat but which are not of great importance commercially.

Through out the world the citrus fruits are appreciated and in many cases form a valuable part of the diet as a source of vitamin C. Those grades which are not suitable for domestic use are generally processed in the growing regions to yield either the juice which may be further processes to give concentrates, or for the essential oil which is obtained from the peels.

Citrus Oil
In all citrus fruits the essential oil is contained in numerous, oval, balloon-shape oil sacs or gland situated irregular just below the surface of the colored portion of the peel – the flavedo. The white mesocarp or albedo does not contain any oil sacs but carries the bitter glycoside such as hesperidin in lemons, oranges and tangerines or naringin in grapefruit.

The essential oils are generally mechanically extracted from the peels. It is not only the citrus fruits but also the flowers and leaves of citrus plants which are of considerable value in the compounding of fragrances and to a lesser extent in the formulation of imitation flavors. The essential oil distilled from the leaves is known as oil of petitgrain and that from the flowers, oil of neroli.
The Citrus Fruits

Spices Flavoring

2008-12-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

Spices Flavoring
The soft-stemmed plant materials used in seasoning food are classified as “herbs” and all other aromatic plants products used for a similar purpose are called spices, although this broad definition admits of several exceptions.

Spices are usually only parts of plants and may be either roots, rhizomes, barks, seeds, fruits, flower buds etc. Unlike herbs the spices are very aromatic and may contain large percentages of essential oil as well as the powerful non volatile flavoring components. They are normally derived from the semi-tropical or tropical regions of the world, are harvested and usually sun dried to form the spice of commerce.

Condiments are seasonings which are added to food after it has been served. In this category the most popular and widely used are salt, mustard, pepper and ginger.
Spices Flavoring

Aromatic profile

2008-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Aromatic profile

Much have been published on the history, nature and processing of herbs, species and other aromatic plant materials used as food flavorings but one subject which has received little attention is that their sensory characteristics.

What do they actually smell and taste like? What quantitative and qualitative contribution can one expect them to give to the total flavor complex of any product which they are used? How can one describe the observable differences in aroma and flavor? The absence of any really informative articles covering this important aspect of flavoring is not surprising when one realizes how extremely difficult it is to achieve meaningful descriptions or well known but purely sensory effects (for example flavor of banana).

Certain descriptive terms have become well established by use and understood by the majority of these like to be called upon to evaluate aromatic materials, generally, however, the mere reading of a descriptive profile gives little idea of the effect obtained. It is fair to say that no color-of flavor can yet be describe verbally in any language in such a way that the uninitiated layman immediately recognize and visualize the material and be able to identify it when presented with a sample.

Even the individual words used do not necessarily convey the correct impression. For instance, one may have a reasonably clear understanding of the word “aromatic” as something which has both a hedonic and nonhedonic connotations; i.e., it is both pleasing and sweet. In the other hand, the term “green’” which are also very frequently used in describing aromas and flavors, is far less precise, ranging from the effect one associates with freshly cut grass to that of damp leaves or even of freshly cut garden herbs; all of which are quite different.

This problem is accentuated when one has to translate terms into other languages. Frequently, a single world replacement is not understood may, in fact, give totally wrong impression. In most cases one has to carry out an evaluation at first hand in order to appreciate fully the differences in aromatic character or create a picture of the total profile.

Aromatic profile

The Advantages of Imitation Flavors

2008-11-30T16:44:00.000-08:00

The Advantages of Imitation Flavors
Imitation flavoring have several marked advantages, namely:

In flavoring power they are usually much cheaper than the equivalent natural product necessary to produce the same flavoring effect (even when this is possible) and are usually much less sensitive to changing costs.

They are stable and have a very long shelf live

They can be designed to withstand severe processing conditions.

They are highly concentrated and can be produced in a variety of forms (e.g., alcohol-based, oil-based, or other permitted solvent based solutions or encapsulated powders) suitable for specific applications.

Within modern manufacturing constraints they are generally readily available being independent of natural cropping, seasoning or other supply considerations.

They can be tailor-made to give the optimum desired flavor effect. This flexibility leads to an ability to create product distinctiveness. Any fruit or indeed fruit at a particular stage of ripeness, - can be imitated and at the same time, any undesirable characters in the natural flavor profile can be modified or omitted.

They have a consistency of quality and flavoring effect.

The Advantages of Imitation Flavors

Coriander Oil

2008-11-23T15:39:00.000-08:00

Coriander Oil
Botanically name Coriandrum sativum. The annual production of coriander seed oil is about 700 tons, virtually all from the former Soviet Union. Other minor producers are India, Egypt, Romania, South Africa and Poland. Production herb oil in France, the former Soviet Union and Egypt is very limited. Coriander seeds yield 0.9% oil on steam distillation. The fresh herb yield only 0.02% oil. Demand is increasing slightly. The major market is the United States.

The major components of coriander seed oil are typically:
74% linalol (light, lavender)
6% gamma-terpinene (light, citrus, herbaceous)
5% camphor (fresh, camphoraceous)
3% alpha0pinene (light, pine)
2% para-cymene (light, citrus)
2% limonene (weak, light, citrus)
2% geranyl acetate (fruity, floral, rose)

The major component of coriander leaf is
10% dec-2-enal (strong, orange marmalade)

Coriander seed oil can be adulterated with synthetic linalol but this is readily detectable by gas chromatography.

The seed oil is used in a very wide variety of flavor applications. It is part of the traditional flavoring of a number of alcoholic drinks, especially gin. It is widely used in meat seasoning and curry blends. It provides a very attractive natural source of linalol in natural fruit flavors, particularly apricot, the herb oil is very widely used in South Asia seasoning blends but also provides a unique citrus character in natural flavors. There are no legal restrictions on the use of coriander oil in flavorings.
Coriander Oil