The science behind creating flavors

From 60 mins. Fascinating.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7389748n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

WOW! Great segment. Thanks for that.

TL;DR: everything in the middle of the grocery store has altered tastes, chemically, to make you eat and buy more of it.

I watched that segment too and was really fascinated. I was wishing I could taste (or at least smell) some of the flavors they were describing ... particularly the oak to get an idea how close they come to the real thing (as opposed to liquid smoke).

BR, I'm going to bet you and I sample the chemicals all the time but don't know it.

For the oak smell/taste buy and drink some cheapass or even mid-range prices whiskey.

In the video, that crunchy brown chicken stuff is what I wanted to take a bite out of.

kenji wrote:BR, I'm going to bet you and I sample the chemicals all the time but don't know it.

For the oak smell/taste buy and drink some cheapass or even mid-range prices whiskey.

I'm sure you're right ... but I'd love to be able to be able to do side by side comparisons to see how close they can get to the real thing.

I think they said the company does 4 billion a year in sales. I'll bet what's in those scientist's jars are spot on.

Think they take concoctions home and play with them to feed oddities to their families?

"Oak cask pancakes this morning kids!"

kenji wrote:WOW! Great segment. Thanks for that.

TL;DR: everything in the middle of the grocery store has altered tastes, chemically, to make you eat and buy more of it.

The sad reality is that nature sucks. When you want a specific fruit, vegetable or animal-sourced flavor it's never going to be the same twice. The large OJ bottlers, for example, are always blending juice from a variety of sources to get the right level of sweetness/acidity but even then it's always going to differ. When you're adding just a little bit of an ingredient it's that much harder to make sure you get exactly the right qualities in every batch and that's where these guys come in. Every manufacturer strives to get you to buy more; there's nothing magical about what these guys do, they just assure the consumer that the flavors you liked last time will be replicated effectively the next time you buy, but there's no mystical "make you eat more" ingredient in there.

spinynorman99 wrote: there's no mystical "make you eat more" ingredient in there.

I'd say there is, but it's not mystical or magic. There's a reason Dorito's chips sell so much. Our brains want the flavor the scientist's have compounded, without the chemicals no one would buy them over say a bag of El Milagro chips.

kenji wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote: there's no mystical "make you eat more" ingredient in there.

I'd say there is, but it's not mystical or magic. There's a reason Dorito's chips sell so much. Our brains want the flavor the scientist's have compounded, without the chemicals no one would buy them over say a bag of El Milagro chips.

El Milagro's unflavored chips are superior. The reason Dorito's sell a lot is that kids like flavored chips. It's less about the chemistry and more about the presence of any flavoring.

The presence of "flavoring" is "chemistry"!

kenji wrote:The presence of "flavoring" is "chemistry"!

Cooking is chemistry and flavoring is absolutely chemistry. It's one of the reasons why we choose to apply heat to ingredients - because it alters the flavor profile. It's why certain foods/ingredients need to be balanced by other ingredients. (When a chef/cook says something "needs more acidity" they're employing principles of chemistry).

Spin? Did you view the 60 Minutes video?

kenji wrote:Spin? Did you view the 60 Minutes video?

Yes, I saw the program (I also used to live next door to a guy who worked for the local IFF plant when it was on Irving Park near California and I have another friend who is in the food flavoring/additive business, so I knew a little about the business before I saw it).