Have
you ever wondered just who comes up with flavors like razzle dazzle
raspberry, dew drop honeydew, wild orange and strawberry kiwi? Olivia
Noland takes us into a world of flavor chemists and their profession,
flavor chemistry, an exact science and interpretive art that tempts the
taste buds with sour, salty, sweet and bitter.
When
you go to the grocery store, have you ever stopped to see new flavored
drinks your favorite beverage companies have created? If you haven’t,
take a moment to think about the people behind the shelves of your local
supermarket who made those fresh and flavorful drinks happen. They are
called flavor chemists and their profession is flavor chemistry. Also
known as flavor creation, it is the exact science and interpretive art
that tempts the taste buds with sour, salty, sweet and bitter notes and is
the profession that adds personality to everyday foods and beverages. It
is an industry centered on innovations of the senses and of the consumer
at global proportions.
Almost everything has a flavor. From beverages to candy,
to vitamins and organic products, we taste flavors all around us. Cherry,
strawberry, apple, grape, blueberry, watermelon, lime and hazelnut are
just a few of thousands of flavors available to fit thousands of tastes.
They are complements to our personalities -- sweet and likable, tart and
sassy, salty and bold. What flavor best fits your personality?
This expanding industry is essential in the qualitative and quantitative
analysis of an increasing population, loss of fertile land and urban needs
(Buday.) Land used for cattle grazing and farming purposes gradually
decrease as the population of the world increases. Acres and acres of land
are destroyed to build shopping malls and convenience stores and as a
result, the production of natural crops declines. This is where the flavor
industry comes in to play.
“We are losing natural foods daily, and those
that survive cost much more and have less flavor. This is due to forced
ripening during transit on shipments made around the world” (Buday.)
A flavor chemist, also known as a flavorist, develops,
investigates, duplicates and identifies flavors. “A flavor creator is a
person who works for many years evaluating the multitude of chemicals,
both natural and synthetic, essential oils, fruit concentrates, and plant
extracts that make up the palette of ingredients available to the flavor
chemists” (Flavor Creation par. #4.)
Quinisha Holt, a lab technician at GSB & Associates,
Flavor Creators, spends her workday compounding samples of flavors that
are sent to prospective customers. Her definition of flavor chemistry is
this, “Flavor chemistry is duplicating flavors in nature using essential
oils and chemicals” (Holt.)
The main objective of flavor chemistry is to satisfy the
senses. There are five well-known and studied senses that make up the
human sensory system. Flavor chemistry utilizes two of these senses to
their fullest potential – smell and taste. Without these senses
perfected, no flavor chemist would be credible. Flavorists must have sharp
senses in order to differentiate and label the plethora of tastes from
around the world. Smell and taste work hand in hand.
“You might have two
lime flavors that taste the same to the average person, however, a flavor
chemist is more aware of the many aspects of taste and could pick up a
sweeter note in one lime flavor over the other” (Holt.)
It is
important that each flavor created brings out the most mouth-watering
characteristics of real foods created by Mother Nature.
Have you ever walked into a store or restaurant and were
reminded of a scent that you recognized? Could you pick out exactly what
chemicals and components made up that recognizable scent? There are many
parts of the nose that aid in smell recognition. “Smells are detected
in the nose by the specialized receptor cells of the olfactory
epithelium. These are called olfactory receptor neurons.” (Jacob par.
#6).
These tiny particles are known as cilia. “The nose contains
specialized sensory nerve cells, or neurons, with hair like fibers
called cilia on one end. Each neuron sends a nerve fiber called an axon
to the olfactory bulb, a brain structure just above the nose” (Brain
Briefings par. #5). An interesting fact about smell, however, is that is
has a lot to do with taste. “As much as 80% of what we call
"taste" actually is aroma" (Tim Jacob qtd. Dr Susan
Schiffman quoted in Chicago Tribune, 3 May 1990). Before you take a sip
of your favorite drink, try smelling it first. Then, hold your nose and
take a sip. See if you can still taste the drink. Do you have to smell
it first to recognize its flavor?
Taste is often defined as the recognition of taste buds
to detect salty, sweet, sour and bitter flavors. “Taste is the ability
to respond to dissolved molecules and ions. Humans detect taste with
taste receptor cells…each taste bud has a pore that opens out to the
surface of the tongue enabling molecules and ions taken into the mouth
to reach the receptor cells inside” (The Sense of Taste par. #1).
Most people find their sense of taste to be their strongest sense of
all. It lets us know what we like and what we don’t and explains why
we have preferred tastes. Flavor chemists go through years and years of
training their noses and tongues to master the scent and taste of
flavors.
They perform numerous chemical testing sessions to familiarize
themselves with the characteristics of each chemical they use in the
creation or duplication of a flavor.
A wide variety of flavors are used in products ranging
from beverages and confectionary foods to pharmaceuticals and animal
feed. They are found in products we use everyday but do not notice.
Children’s medicine, cough drops and lotions as well as dog food, cat
nip and bird feed all have added flavors, whether natural or synthetic.
Even flavors for these markets have to be tested in order to create the
perfect product you see on grocery store shelves.
“Flavor chemistry
affects almost everything you do” (Holt.) Flavor Chemistry aims to
make even the dullest item seem interesting and enticing.
Vitamins, for
example, are often flavored to hide the taste of the nutrients they
contain. Do you prefer to swallow a multivitamin with no added flavor,
or a watermelon flavored vitamin that masks all of the natural odors and
not-so-pleasant aftertastes?
The beverage industry is a prime example of how flavors
are created and how they end up being added to your favorite drinks.
Only a handful of companies dominate the soda pop market and are
consistently in competition with one another. Coca Cola Company and
Pepsi Cola Company each have a cherry flavored soda, Cherry Coke and
Code Red. They each have a lemon-lime soda as well, Sprite and Sierra
Mist. Competition such as this will continue until one of these
companies invents the unimaginable – the never-before-tasted flavor.
When this happens, flavor chemists are the first people to know. They
start their craft by the combination and removal of certain natural and
artificial chemicals and essential oils. They proceed to create replicas
of the most succulent flavors, including tangerine, grapefruit and
peach. Through intense evaluation, testing, sampling and matching, the
flavorist finds the perfect candidate for the potential drink.
When the
target flavor is found to the beverage company’s liking, a sample is
then sent. Flavorists use the precise formula to make batches of the new
flavor to sell to the beverage company. This process results in creating
a new twist, a new idea and a new advantage over competing companies in
the same market. Flavor chemists play an important role in creating
breakthrough flavors for diverse markets.
The world of flavor creation is fascinating.
It relies
upon the consumer to decide the popularity of a flavor as well as
climatic conditions to decide trends in the flavor market. These events
are internationally observed. Consumers are important factors in the
flavor and fragrance industry. In recent years Bath & Body Works, a
beauty product company, introduced a Cucumber Melon fragrance for
lotions and body sprays as did many other aromatherapy and beauty
product lines. When consumers were found satisfied with this scent,
cucumber melon soon became high in demand. As a result, a new trend in
the fragrance market was developed.
Climatic conditions also greatly
influence the flavor and fragrance industry. If a drought in South
America causes a shortage in the crop and harvesting of vanilla beans,
the market price of vanilla could increase due to the rules of supply
and demand. Companies who can afford the prices of vanilla extracts and
vanilla beans have a higher advantage in consumer transactions.
Participating companies are inclined to increase the prices of their
products. This situation produces a new trend in the vanilla market.
Trends in the flavor industry could potentially stem from a bubblegum
fad or a new-found taste for strawberries and champagne.
Flavors are an international phenomenon.
The ones that
are popular in the United States could experience the same results in
other countries as well. Spices such as vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg,
ginger, garlic, rosemary and cumin are grown in regions all over the
world. The price of a spice is often determined by its rarity and its
availability to produce.
A shortage in a harvest could allow worldwide
companies to compete in manufacturing this resource or a version of the
resource. The flavor market could use a combination of natural and
artificial flavorings of these spices high in demand. These rare flavors
are now easily recreated by flavor chemists to aid in the consumption of
food and beverage products everywhere.
Flavor chemists spend much of their time as scientists
enhancing and expanding their knowledge of the flavor industry.
In order
to stay updated in the fluctuating market trends and flavor demands,
they are participants of associations and societies. Like scientists in
other fields, flavor chemists belong to a variety of organizations
including The Society of Flavor Chemists. This society has been in
existence for fifty years, according to Eugene Buday, a member and past
president of the society in 1970-71.
The Society of Flavor Chemists is
made up of hundreds of flavor chemists and scientists in the flavor
industry who correspond with one another on the events and findings in
their area of expertise. It is a way for them to discuss, compare,
analyze and update the material and information they daily interpret.
Flavor chemists and their companies are also known to
participate in trade shows, where hundreds of companies have the
opportunity to display their latest research and development and
freshest ideas. Trade shows such as Institute of Food Technologists,
(IFT), Suppliers’ Night and Centifolia are two examples of annual
shows held at locations all over the world. At a recent IFT show in
November of 2004, Corinne Thompson presented the new flavor ideas of GSB
& Associates, Flavor Creators, such as chocolate caramel apple and
cinnamon cider.
Many magazines and publications are available to flavor
chemists. Beverage Industry, Prepared Foods, Food Technology, Organic
Processing, Beverage World and Perfumer and Flavorist are merely a few
magazines that provide extensive interviews and studies that highlight
specialized fields in the industry. Articles such as, “The Surprising
Truth about Organic Users” can be found in Organic Processing. It
informs a flavor chemist on the demographics of consumers.
A food report
found in Food Technology, named “Spices and Ethnic Foods”, reads:
“As the growth in use of spices and seasonings in ethnic cuisines
continues, it has become more important than ever for buyers to work
closely with their suppliers to ensure that they receive the right
ingredients for their products” (Furth 30).
This particular article
lists dozens of available spices and the primary countries that produce
them. An additional table lists the quantity and value of spices
imported into the United States in 2002. Even articles such as,
“Seeking Solutions to Obesity” can be found in Prepared Foods and
provides extensive research on the trends that cause obesity and the
solutions companies can implement.
“Emerging opportunities for
industry include offering better solutions for serving sizes such as
pre-divided or individually wrapped portions within each package, and
positioning products to evoke notions of food as crucial elements of
meals consumed at tables. A vast knowledge of the flavor industry is
essential for flavor chemists to understand and interpret their
company’s projects and needs in flavor creation and duplication rather
than individual food items consumed in isolation” (Swann 56).
©
Olivia Nolan
GSB & Associates, Inc
3115 Cobb International Blvd.
Kennesaw, GA 30152
onoland@gsbflavorcreatores.com
Photography
by Franz Lauinger (Citrus) and Claire Gunn (Berries)
