Flavorings and Browning

FLAVORINGS
The acceptability of any food product greatly depends on the
impression of taste when it is eaten. Our sense of taste is really a
combination of two of our senses, taste and smell. Both of these senses
respond to certain chemicals.
 Flavourings in Food
• Flavourings are used in a wide range of food products.
• Most Flavourings are an imitation of the flavour of a known food
stuff.
• Some flavours are isolated from natural raw ingredients but this is
costly and also wastes valuable natural resources.
• Flavourings are used as additives are often developed by a Creative
Flavourist .
• Their job is to identify the substances present in the food that are the
most important in producing its flavour and then to create a flavour
profile which mimics the particular food in the most effective way.
• The average flavouring contains between 5 and 50 ingredients.
• A few flavourings contain many more.
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Common Flavourings in Food
Food Reason for adding flavour
Ice cream Taste is unacceptable without the addition of
flavourings
Margarine Taste is unacceptable without the addition of
flavourings
Meat substitutes such as soya These are low fat and extremely nutritious
protein and myco protein however, without the addition of a flavour,
they have a bland and uninteresting taste
Wine gums / table jelly No flavour at all without the addition of
flavourings
Yoghurt May have a natural flavour present but
possibly at a low intensity. Flavourings may
be added to enhance the natural
flavour that a flavour is suitable for a particular
There is really only one way to demonstrate
product. Trained tasters are used to evaluate the final food product. Members of the
public may also be used in large scale tests whose results can then be statistically
analysed.
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Sources of Flavours
• Foods may contain more than a thousand chemical compounds that
contribute to their flavour.
• Many of these naturally occurring compounds may be too unstable
to be used in commercial flavourings where they may need to be
stored for some time before being used.
• For this reason, 'copies' of the natural flavour are often developed.
• Flavourings are used in food products at very low concentrations.
• They are normally made from a mixture of substances which
provide a flavouring of suitable strength that can be stored and
then used in the food production process.
• There are four categories of flavourings:
- Flavouring substances
- Flavouring preparations
- Process flavourings
- Smoke flavourings
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Flavouring substances
Chemical substances with flavouring properties
Natural flavours
• These are from animal and vegetable sources.
• They may be used raw or can be processed by physical, microbiologi-
cal or enzymatic methods during food processing.
• Natural citral is extracted from lemon grass and natural benzaldehyde
from bitter almonds.
Nature identical flavouring
• Chemically identical to natural flavourings but are prepared or ex-
tracted using chemical methods.
• They are identical to the molecules found in nature and the body can-
not distinguish between them.
• Nature identical flavouring substances include: ethyl acetate (identical
in nature to many fruits) and decanal (nature identical to orange).
• Vanillin may be obtained from vanilla pods but the flavour is now
 FLAVORINGS
Artificial (i.e. not nature identical)
Compounds which are not chemically identical to natural flavouring
substances. Examples are ethyl vanillin or ethyl maltol which have not
been identified in nature.

Flavouring preparations
• Other materials can have a flavouring effect.
• Essential oils and even fruit juices come into this category if they are
used for their flavouring properties.
• They are obtained from animal or vegetable material by physical
methods, enzymes or fermentation and are classified as natural.
• Vanilla extract is obtained from vanilla pods.
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Process flavourings
• Produced by heating together substances this individually may not
have flavouring properties.
• One of these must contain an amino group (-NH2) and the other
must be a reducing sugar.
• This process is similar to the changes that happen when a food is
cooked.
• These flavours are found in gravy granules.

Smoke flavourings
• Extracted from smoke and give the same flavours as those produced
during the traditional food-smoking process where foods are left
in wood smoke for several hours.
• For example, smoked salmon or smoked kippers.
• Smoke flavours may actually be safer than the traditional smoking
process.
• Harmful chemicals, found in wood smoke, are removed as much as
possible from the smoke flavouring.
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Monosodium Glutamate
• Monosodium glutamate, MSG (E621) is a salt of glutamic acid, one of
the building blocks that make up animal and vegetable proteins.
• It occurs in virtually all protein containing foods including meats,
fish, vegetables and dairy products.
• Various cheeses, tomatoes, peas and mushrooms are among the foods
richest in glutamate.
• Glutamate from our diet is a source of energy for the digestive system,
and the human body itself produces around 48 grams of glutamate
every day.
• Glutamate is found in abundance in mothers' milk, at levels about ten
times that found in cows' milk.
• The glutamate naturally present in food and the glutamate derived
from MSG are treated by the body in exactly the same way.
 FLAVORINGS
Monosodium Glutamate
• Monosodium glutamate, MSG (E621) is a salt of glutamic acid, one of
the building blocks that make up animal and vegetable proteins.
• It occurs in virtually all protein containing foods including meats,
fish, vegetables and dairy products.
• Various cheeses, tomatoes, peas and mushrooms are among the foods
richest in glutamate.
• Glutamate from our diet is a source of energy for the digestive system,
and the human body itself produces around 48 grams of glutamate
every day.
• Glutamate is found in abundance in mothers' milk, at levels about ten
times that found in cows' milk.
• The glutamate naturally present in food and the glutamate derived
from MSG are treated by the body in exactly the same way.
 BROWNING
• Browning is the process of becoming brown, especially referring to
food.
• Browning foods may be desirable, as in caramelization, or
undesirable, as in an apple turning brown after being cut.
• Foods, including beverages, can turn brown through either
enzymatic or non-enzymatic processes.
• Browning has an important economic cost causing deterioration of
the value of products in the market of food.
• Browning is a chemical reaction which occurs in food. It occurs in
two forms: 
• Enzymatic Browning (where oxygen present in fruits and vegetables
causes the reaction)
• Non-Enzymatic Browning (where other properties e.g. heat applica-
tion cause the browning process.,
• The two forms of non-enzymatic browning are 
- Dextrinisation(the browning of starch foods) and 
- Caramelisation (the browning of sugars by heat application.)
• These are irreversible processes which change the taste, structure
 BROWNING
ENZYMATIC BROWNING
• Enzymatic browning is a chemical process, involving polyphenol oxidase,
catechol oxidase and other enzymes that create melanin's and 
benzoquinone from natural phenols, resulting in a brown color.
• Enzymatic browning generally requires exposure to oxygen, thus the
browning that occurs when an apple, for example, is cut.
• Enzymatic browning can be beneficial for:
- Developing flavor in tea
- Developing color and flavor in dried fruit such as figs and raisins.
- Enzymatic browning is often detrimental to:
- Fresh fruit and vegetables, including apples, potatoes and bananas
- Seafood such as shrimp
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Enzymatic browning
A variety of techniques exist for preventing enzymatic browning, each
exploiting a different aspect of the biochemical process.
• Lemon juice and other acids lower the pH and remove the
copper cofactor necessary for the responsible enzymes to function
• Blanching to denature enzymes and destroy responsible reactants
• Low temperatures can also prevent enzymatic browning by
reducing rate of reaction.
• Inert gas, like nitrogen, prevent necessary oxygen from reacting
• Chemicals such as sodium bisulfate and citrates
• Enzymatic Browning (oxygen present) occurs in these foods/products: 
Fruit and Vegetable products e.g. bananas, peaches, pears, apples and
apricots (i.e. those foods low in acid.) 
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NON-ENZYMATIC BROWNING
• Non-enzymatic, or oxidative, browning is a chemical process that
produces a brown color in foods without the activity of enzymes.
• The two main forms of non-enzymatic browning are
- Caramelization 
- Millard reaction.
• Both vary in reaction rate as a function of water activity.
 Caramelization
- Caramelization is the pyrolysis of sugar.
- It is used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and
brown color.
- As the process occurs, volatile chemicals are released, producing the
characteristic caramel flavor.
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NON-ENZYMATIC BROWNING
 Maillard reaction
- The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between an amino
acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring the addition of heat.
- The sugar interacts with the amino acid, producing a variety of odors
and flavors.
- The Maillard reaction is the basis of the flavoring industry, since the
type of amino acid involved determines the resulting flavor; it also
produces toast.
- Non-Enzymatic Browning occurs in:
• Dextrinisation of starch e.g.browning of toast, in baked goods
and in gravies;
• Browning of red meats(through heat application process);
• Caramelisation of sugars, e.g. sweet making and sweet products,
in fruits, vegetables, milk, meat and baked products. 
 BROWNING
Factors affecting functional property
 Enzymatic Browning can be affected by:
• Rate and amount of contact of oxygen with product. (prevention
by covering with syrup, acid or water);
• Amount of acid in fruit or vegetable;
• Time left in oxygen zone;
• Temperature of work area. 

 Non – Enzymatic Browning is affected by:

• Length of time heated; 
• Temperature; 
• Type of starch, sugar or protein in product; 
• Addition of other ingredients; 
• The amount of the product being browned.   
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