Flavor Descriptors: Facts About Flavors

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Flavor Descriptors: Facts About Flavors

Ever wonder what really makes up flavors and smell? Not all molecules are detectable through olfaction, but some odorous molecules create a chemical stimulus in the brain that we called “smell.” How, you ask? These specific molecules bind to receptor proteins extended from cilia, initiating an electric signal to the brain.

An aroma is caused by one or more volatilized (changing into a gas state) chemical compounds, generally at a very low concentration, that humans or other animals perceive by the sense of olfaction. Aromas can be pleasant and unpleasant.

Smell vs. Taste

Approximately 80% of what we perceive as taste is in fact, due to our sense of smell. This occurs with both nasal (through the nose) and retro-nasal (through the back of the throat) olfaction or smell.

Taste is the sensation produced when a substance in the mouth reacts with our taste receptor cells located on our taste buds in the mouth, mostly on the tongue. A few known taste sensations: Bitter, Sweet, Salty, Acid (Sour), Umami (Savory) and possibly Kokumi (Hearty/Starchy).

Flavor

We could define flavor as the blend of taste and smell sensations induced by a substance in the mouth. Taste and Smell vary depending on genetic makeup, gender, health, training, environmental factors and fatigue… BUT we don’t just sense flavor with our tongues. We also use touch, sight, sound, temperature, trigeminality to create the sensation in our brains that we call FLAVOR.

Supertasters

Most people are average tasters, but some people have many more taste buds than the rest of us. We call them Supertasters. It doesn’t mean they’re flavor connoisseurs or foodies (sorry about that), but it does mean they are extra sensitive to bitter tastes. Supertasters often report that foods like broccoli, cabbage, spinach, grapefruit and coffee taste very bitter.

Flavor Description and Evaluation

We can affect the flavor of food by how it is described. For example, protein bars might taste less desirable if they are described as soy protein and yogurt. And ice cream is perceived to be more flavorsome when described as full fat or high fat. In order to evaluate flavors, there’s a few suggestions that will help your accuracy. Evaluate the taste in a room free of smells, sounds and other sensory stimuli. Do not smoke, or drink coffee or alcohol prior to flavor tasting. Closing your eyes when tasting or smelling is helpful. Most importantly, if you need assistance with flavor description, consult Sensapure Flavor Descriptors for a description of the aroma profile that describe what you are tasting. We also recommend using the Sensapure Tasting Notes when evaluating flavors.

Flavor Fatigue

Particularly in the afternoons, as the day progresses, our sense of smell and taste can change, and most of the time is diminished. Avoid evaluating flavors late in the afternoon or after consecutive tastings. If you experience flavor fatigue, go outside to get a fresh breath of air. Eating unsalted soda crackers is also a very effective way of neutralizing aftertaste.

Contact our certified flavor chemists to get started finding the perfect description of your flavor today. We have just the right tools and terminology to add that wow factor to your flavor.

Download a copy of our flavor facts here

Flavor Descriptors Training

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Speaking Our Language: Flavor Descriptors Training

flavor descriptors for strawberries

Can you describe the flavor of a strawberry WITHOUT using flavor descriptors? Pretty difficult, right? Flavor Descriptors are a vital tool used by flavor chemists.

When tasting and smelling, one is actually describing a flavor profile. Do not overthink. Just try to describing what you perceive during the tasting. There are many flavor descriptors that exist in the industry, such as our Sensapure Flavor Attributes. Take a look below at some of our flavor descriptors, or check out more of our flavor fans here.

flavor descriptors fans

blue raspberry fan

candy descriptors

flavor fans

Download our flavor presentation here

Measuring Flavor and Sensory Protocols

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Measuring Flavor and Sensory Protocols

When we are measuring flavor and sensory protocols, there’s a few questions we like to ask. Are we trying to find differences between samples? Or are we trying to understand consumers’ preference? Understanding the purpose of the tasting helps to select and apply the appropriate sensory tests.

How to Conduct a Taste Test

When we conduct a taste test, there are a few things that we look for:

  • Define the purpose of the tasting
  • Choose the correct test protocol accordingly
  • When comparing new flavors to existing ones, the most useful protocol is Triangle Test
  • For new products, use Preference and Hedonics protocols

We also have a few different materials we use when we are measuring flavor and running sensory protocols. Surprisingly, many of the things we use are simple items you can find around your house, such as paper towels, labels, crackers, gloves.

Sample Coding and Tasting Sequence

Samples can NOT be coded with simple one-digit number or letter to avoid subconscious bias (A is better than D). Because of this, a common method is to use random three-digit numbers. For example 142, 852, 296, 370 are numbers that can be used. It’s important to remember NOT to allocate the two identical samples in a triangle test the same three-digit number. Also, it is a standard practice to rotate the order of the samples so each taster has a difference sequence.

When you’re running taste tests, it’s recommended to run three different tests with volunteers:

  • A: Provides introduction at the beginning of the taste-tests to participants and presents tasting cups
  • B: Prepares food and beverage samples and recruits participants to take taste tests
  • C: Collects evaluation forms, cleans up used cups and trash in between samples and after test

If you’re running a preference test, the taster is presented with at least two samples. However, the samples do not need to look or taste similar. The taster simply decides which option (sample) he or she likes best. Make sure that you rotate the samples ensuring some testers taste different first samples.

Full confidence in measuring flavor

If 100 people participated in a preference test, how many need to choose one product over another for you to feel confident that most people in the public prefer the same product? The answer may be surprising. Scientists are usually satisfied with a conclusion when they are confident that they will get the same result 95 times out of 100.

The Triangle Test – Discrimination Test

Another popular test is the triangle test. In this test, the taster is presented with three samples: two are the same and one is different. Often the differences between the two samples are small. The tester is asked to tell which sample is different. As in the preference test, offering different testers different orders of samples to test is important. For the triangle taste test, six different orders of samples are possible: AAB, ABA, BAA, BBA, BAB, and ABB.

In this test, can the tester tell the difference between the products? As in the preference test, the number of correct choices for the results to be statistically significant depends on the sample size. While 95% significance is best, scientists sometimes report results with 80% significance. Since getting correct responses with the triangle taste test is difficult (depending on how similar the samples taste), 80% significance may be the best outcome.

Measuring Flavor through Hedonic Taste Tests

These tests try to answer the question of which product people prefer, or how much the product is liked. The tasters included in these tests are current consumers of the product or potential ones. There is no need for taster training. Optimally, there are more than 30 panelists. There are several types of preference and acceptance tests. A common one is the 9-point hedonic scale.

In comparing the hedonic to the preference taste test, there’s a few notable differences. The hedonic test is set up in the same manner as the preference taste test. At least two samples are compared to determine which product people prefer. A large number of similar responses must be obtained to determine that people prefer one product more than the other. The minimum number of similar responses needed to determine if the preference is significant is based on the total number of responses obtained, and helps determine a 95% significance.

The hedonic scale is used to determine degree of acceptability of one or more products. This scale is a category-type scale with an odd number (five to nine) categories ranging from “dislike extremely” to “like extremely.” A neutral midpoint (neither like nor dislike) is included. Taster rate the product on the scale based on their response.

Ranking Test

If more than two samples are evaluated, a preference ranking test is performed. Usually three to five samples are the most that can be efficiently ranked by a taster. This test asks the taster to order the samples based on preference, with a ranking of “1” meaning most preferred.

 

Download a copy of our presentation on measuring flavor here

Food Industry Regulation: In-Depth with Labels

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Food Industry Regulation: In-Depth with Labels

Food is all about flavor. It’s an important characteristic of the food we eat every day. You know how fresh foods taste when you make them at home? Fresh bread right from the oven, fresh squeezed orange juice, warm and buttery popcorn. But you can’t always get those fresh flavors, which is where processed foods come in. However, the preservation methods that give processed foods shelf life tend to reduce flavor. So food manufacturers turn to add natural flavors to enhance or maintain the flavor of the food after it’s processed. With that in mind, how do you classify these flavors on labels?

Consumers are getting smarter and savvier when it comes to their food. Regulations for labels constantly change. Both closely examine labels and the requirements for foods to claim certain tags. Consumers also tend to develop more brand loyalty when they feel confident in a food’s ingredient claims. Ensuring you understand the terminology used in specific labels helps classify what your product’s flavor is called on a label. Take a look at our breakdown below to see where your product falls in the category of flavor labeling.

Here’s a list of descriptions of a few key flavor labeling terms used (using Strawberry as an example):

Natural Strawberry Flavor:

Flavors labeled “natural” must only have natural ingredients from the flavor you claim on the label. In this example, the flavors only come from real Strawberries.  This means the essential oil, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, or any product of enzymolysis, is derived from a strawberry.

Natural Strawberry (With Other Natural Flavors):

For this label, a flavor contains all natural flavor ingredients, but the flavors are derived from Strawberry as well as other natural flavors. In this instance, Natural Strawberry might be flavored with compounds derived from other berries such as Apple, Raspberry, Blueberry, Pear, etc.

Strawberry Type Flavor:

“Type” appears on labels when you create a flavor from natural ingredients without using the actual label’s flavor. For example, a Strawberry Type flavor is made entirely from natural flavor combinations like Apple, Raspberry, and Pear, but no Strawberry. It’s important to remember this flavor is still derived from all natural ingredients.

Artificial Strawberry Flavor:

You use this particular flavor label when you combine artificial “Strawberry” compounds with other synthetic ingredients.  Artificial flavors are made from non-food sources while natural flavors come from foods or other edible things. The flavor source can contain another natural flavor besides Strawberry, but if the label says “artificial” in it, it includes synthetic “Strawberry” ingredients as well.

Natural and Artificial Strawberry Flavor:

Like it’s name suggests, Natural and Artificial Strawberry flavor contains flavors that naturally come from Strawberry plus other artificial ingredients. The natural flavors come from Strawberry or Strawberry derivatives, or other flavors from a natural source.

Where does your product fit in the list of terminology? Do you have any questions about the flavors in your product? Or want to make any adjustments? Our world-class flavor library and top-rated flavor chemists are ready to help. Call us today to get started.

New Go-To Flavors in our Flavor Library

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New Go-To Flavors in Our Flavor Library

Sensapure Flavors Announces New Go-To Library with Transparent Pricing.

With a new line of tested, proven flavor keys in both Natural and N&A formulas, Sensapure Flavors broke ground in the flavor industry by putting the wholesale price of each flavor right on the label. This flavor library of approximately 50 key flavors is being sent out to current Sensapure customers this week.

Sensapure’s Flavor Library is so varied in it’s flavors and combinations, there’s almost always something to match your needs.

While it may sound intuitive, putting the actual price of the flavor on the label is a breakthrough for the industry. The benefit for product development teams to see pricing – while they are working on new formulations, results in faster, better outcomes. This saves time and money.

Where We Started

Jeff Reynolds, Founder of Sensapure explains, “Senspaure started as the in-house flavor department of a large, national-brand nutraceutical manufacturing company. Our Flavor and Applications Lab inside that company had a flavor library of well over 500 flavors to work with. Each one in nearly identical white jars with part numbers and descriptors printed on the label… but no pricing. As our product development teams worked on flavoring and functional formulation projects, and were searching for just the right flavoring keys for each new project; quite often they didn’t have quick access to pricing. It was frustrating for these teams to solve a tricky application problem with available flavor keys, only to find out that the costs of those selected flavors pushed the project over budget.”

The new Go-To Flavor line from Sensapure solves that problem. Not only is the cost of each flavor printed right on the bottle, but each of the flavors is engineered to work with the tricky applications facing companies in the sports nutrition, active lifestyle space. From plant-based protein products, to energy drinks, to more complicated matrices of multiple active ingredients, Sensapure’s Go-To Flavors provide transparent solutions to the most challenging flavor projects.

“At Sensapure, we are delighted to be able to offer this line of Go-To Flavors that will help product development teams create winning formulas faster and get those winning products to market on time and on budget.”

Jeff Reynolds, Founder of Sensapure

To add Sensapure’s new Go-To Flavors with Transparent Pricing to your applications library, contact Jared Bateman at Sensapure today and request your free sample flavor library. 

Now Available in Natural and N&A Flavor Formulas

Achieving Cost-Effective World Class Flavor Creation

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Achieving Cost-Effective World Class Flavor Creation

Flavor creation is both art and science. While most in the industry recognize the number of variables involved in flavor creation. There are even more moving pieces when it comes to understanding a flavor budget.

Sensapure Flavor’s director of business development, Matt Doxey, says that misunderstanding flavor budget elements comes with a high price. “A lot of brands simply don’t know what a flavor should cost, and that can result in overpaying for a complete flavor system.” Doxey stresses that understanding a flavor’s budget is crucial to achieving cost-effective production. It demands high levels of trust and communication between flavor houses and brands.

Although achieving a cost-effective flavor system isn’t easy, it is always worth the effort. Let’s discuss the important variables of understanding cost effective flavors, the hidden cost of naturals, and how redefining mixology can often decrease flavor costs significantly.

Sensapure Flavor's Lab
Sensapure Flavor’s Lab

Understanding Flavor Creation and Budgets

There’s several components to consider when looking at a flavor budget: serving size, sweetener use, color use, natural vs. artificial ingredient/chemical use. As a general rule, natural flavors and sweeteners are more expensive. Serving size is relative to the quantity of product base (active ingredients) and what the base tastes like before flavoring. While red colors aren’t more costly than blues, the cost of colors can rise when utilizing natural colors.

The strength of active ingredients’ flavor in the product base is also a factor in the flavor budget. This is where the costs begin to vary the most among different flavor houses.

Five Flavor Ingredients or Fifty-five

Clients often have one or two words in mind when looking to flavor their product bases. “We want a ‘Fresh Berry’ flavor,” they say. Flavor chemists, on the other hand, have thousands of different chemicals in mind while creating a flavor. The words “Chocolate,” or “Blue Raspberry,” can result in a myriad of different formulations when consulting a flavor house. Like artists with blank canvases and a pallet of colors, possibilities are endless for flavor chemists with blank product bases.

Flavor chemists are trained to layer natural and/or artificial ingredients and chemicals to create complex and intriguing flavors. As the flavor system becomes more complicated, more chemicals are introduced, thus raising the cost of the final flavor. When you factor in aftertaste, texture, and mouthfeel, a flavor masterpiece is difficult to commercialize (too darned expensive). Often times, a brand will work through a dozen iterations of a flavor. After adding finishing touches, they’ll realize the added costs of those elements push the cost over the target budget.

Cost Effective Flavoring
Cost Effective Flavoring

The Hidden Costs of Naturals

Consumers are becoming more health conscious and demanding greater transparency in their food and supplement intakes. Brands are meeting customer’s needs by flavoring products with natural ingredients, natural sweeteners, and natural colors. Doxey says if there’s a hidden cost that brands come across when consulting with a flavor house, “It’s typically related to the rise in demand for naturals.” Replacing an artificial sweetener with a natural sweetener like Stevia or Monk Fruit brings up flavor cost. This is why brands and consumers pay premium for natural flavors or non-GMO labels on products.

Rise in demand for consumers and brand transparency is another reason flavor houses are getting away with raising costs. Standards for flavor costs within the industry are relative regardless. But up and coming trends in flavors and ingredients come with even more blurred lines. If brands are at risk of overpaying for an artificial fruit punch, the risk rapidly expands when it comes to an all natural coconut matcha flavor.

It’s important to understand that every flavor is unique. Some raw ingredients are more difficult to source than others due to location, availability, and rising prices of natural ingredients. Layered (multiple sensory) flavors or fringe flavors come with added costs no matter where flavors are made. But understanding a flavor budget minimizes risks of hidden costs in your final product.

Flavor Chemistry Lab
Flavor Chemistry Lab

Flavor Chemistry vs. Mixology

When looking to minimize the costs of a flavor, “mixology” and “flavor chemistry” must work hand-in-hand. Sensapure CEO, Jeff Reynolds said, “If flavor creation is both an art and a science, the balance and partnership between both functions is central in perfecting a cost-effective flavor system.” Mixology is a term used by lots of folks in lots of different ways. In product/applications development, this describes existing compounds (flavors, sweeteners, masking agents, active ingredients) “Mixing” to create new solutions.

Essentially, the mixology “toolbox” consists of the flavors and ingredients each brand, manufacturer or flavor house has on hand. With only mixology, flavor houses will “keep mixing” additional ingredients to achieve the goal, thus increasing final product cost. “Almost anyone can make something taste good for any amount of money,” Doxey says, “A lot of times people add more sweetener or more chemicals to cover up actives, which raises prices significantly.”

Flavor Chemistry

Utilizing flavor chemistry alongside mixology allows companies to simplify, minimize, and eliminate redundancies in the formulation. However, they can still create a flavor system that works well with actives such as caffeine and amino acids.

Doxey explains that mixology plus flavor chemistry is not about adding more to the flavor profile and thus increasing the budget. It’s about changing chemicals until the flavor profile is exactly right.

“The right combination of art (mixology) and science (flavor chemistry), can arrive at the specific formulation in order to enhance desired notes from the flavor while masking unwanted tastes of active ingredients,” said Reynolds. Doxey added, “Good flavor chemists are able to work with applications mixology to create a flavor with complexity while still meeting a clients needs economically.”

Flavor Forumlas
Flavor Forumlas

What To Consider in Flavor Creation

Each flavor house has a different viewpoint on how to meet the needs of their clients. However, not all have a good pulse of what a product should cost based on market parameters. It’s important to consider cost transparency within your contract and to work with a flavor partner who is upfront about costs from the beginning. Although some exotic and natural flavors can be costly, there shouldn’t be too many hidden costs throughout the process once when you identify the specific requirements and what you are looking for in your flavor profile.

While every company seeks to create cost-effective solutions, it’s critical to make sure that your flavor partner doesn’t sacrifice quality to cut costs. When properly designed, a great flavor doesn’t have to break the bank, and the amazing taste will have your customer coming back for more.

About Sensapure Flavors

Sensapure Flavors is a flavor house that services the nutrition and supplement industry with exciting flavor technology and unmatched applications experience. Born in a manufacturing company that understands the ever-changing needs of the nutraceutical industry, Sensapure combines new flavor technologies with deep product application experience.

Contact Us Today!

Sensapure Flavors
1945 S. Fremont Drive
Salt Lake City, UT 84104

801-456-4284

Sensapure Flavors
Research and Technology Development
545 West Lambert Road, Bldg. D
Brea, CA. 92821

657-341-2200

1945 S. Fremont Drive
Salt Lake City, UT 84104

© 2018 Sensapure Flavors, All Rights Reserved

(801) 456-4284
[email protected]