The Essential Role of Fat in Food: Flavor, Nutrition, and Appeal

Fat is a cornerstone in culinary science, profoundly influencing the appearance, flavor, and overall sensory appeal of food. Its multifaceted role ensures that eating is not just a necessity but an experience of pleasure and satisfaction.

Visually, fat elevates the appeal of food. The glossy sheen it imparts to dishes like gravies or roasted vegetables can trigger immediate cravings. In meats, the intricate marbling of fat not only adds richness but also enhances tenderness during cooking. Baked goods such as croissants or puff pastries owe their flaky, airy textures to the strategic incorporation of fat, which creates steam pockets as it melts. This visual and textural harmony plays a significant role in the enjoyment of meals.

Flavor enhancement is another critical contribution of fat. It acts as a solvent for aroma compounds, amplifying their intensity and ensuring even distribution throughout the dish. For example, butter enriches the taste of sauces, while oils like olive or sesame add nuanced notes to salads and stir-fries. Fat also balances flavor profiles by countering the acidity of tomatoes in pasta sauces or softening the bitterness of certain greens. Its creamy mouthfeel further complements flavor, making dishes like ice cream, soups, and custards irresistibly smooth and luxurious.

From a nutritional perspective, fat is indispensable. It aids in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins—A, D, E, and K—essential for various physiological functions, including vision, immunity, and bone health. Fat is also a dense energy source, crucial for sustaining activities and maintaining vital processes. Recent studies emphasize the importance of consuming healthy fats, such as those from avocados, nuts, and fish, for cardiovascular and brain health. The focus has shifted from avoiding fat entirely to balancing types and quantities, underscoring its importance in a nutritious diet.

In essence, fat is more than an ingredient; it is a transformative agent in cooking and food preparation. By enhancing appearance, boosting flavor, and offering vital nutrients, fat remains central to the sensory and nutritional qualities of our diets. Its thoughtful use ensures that food is both nourishing and delightfully indulgent.
The Essential Role of Fat in Food: Flavor, Nutrition, and Appeal

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Aeration’s Role in Enhancing Ice Cream Flavor

The aeration process significantly impacts the flavor of ice cream in several key ways, influencing both the perception and the overall sensory experience. Aeration refers to the incorporation of air into the ice cream mixture during production, and this seemingly simple process has profound effects on how flavors are perceived and enjoyed.

First, aeration affects flavor perception. By creating a lighter texture through the inclusion of air bubbles, volatile flavor compounds are more easily released. These compounds, responsible for delivering specific tastes and aromas, become more accessible to the taste buds and olfactory senses when air is incorporated. As a result, the flavors are more pronounced, allowing for a fuller, more enjoyable flavor profile. In less aerated ice cream, these compounds may remain trapped in the dense structure, making the flavors less detectable and less intense.

Next, aeration influences the perception of sweetness. As air is distributed throughout the ice cream, it aids in the even distribution of sugar particles. This not only allows for a more uniform flavor but also amplifies the sensation of sweetness. Because air bubbles distribute sugar more evenly across the palate, each bite delivers a balanced and consistent level of sweetness, enhancing the overall taste. Ice cream that is not aerated as thoroughly may have an uneven sweetness, where some bites taste sugary, while others lack flavor.

The process of aeration also contributes to mouthfeel. Aerated ice cream has a smoother, creamier texture, which is critical for creating a rich and indulgent experience. The lightness provided by the air bubbles reduces the density, making the ice cream feel more luxurious. This creamy texture enhances how flavors are perceived, allowing them to linger and coat the mouth, making each bite feel more satisfying.

Finally, aeration influences temperature sensation. A well-aerated ice cream melts more slowly on the tongue, reducing the sharp cold sensation that can overwhelm the taste buds. This slower melting rate allows the eater to savor the flavors over a longer period, leading to a more prolonged and enjoyable tasting experience.

In summary, aeration not only affects the texture and structure of ice cream but plays an integral role in enhancing and optimizing its flavor profile. By influencing flavor perception, sweetness, mouthfeel, and temperature sensation, aeration ensures that ice cream is both delicious and satisfying.
Aeration’s Role in Enhancing Ice Cream Flavor

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History of Food Flavor Before the 18th Century

The history of the food flavor industry before the 18th century is a fascinating journey marked by ancient practices and evolving techniques that laid the foundation for modern culinary experiences.

Flavorings, integral to culinary arts, trace back to antiquity with roots entrenched in Greek and Latin terminology, reflecting an early understanding of sensory perception and taste. This linguistic heritage underscores the significance of flavor in human culture.

The genesis of flavor enhancement can be traced to the discovery that the aromatic essence of natural products could be intensified through rudimentary methods. This revelation, likely born out of experimentation and observation, heralded the dawn of intentional flavor manipulation.

The utilization of spices and herbs, dating back some 5000 years to ancient Egypt, showcases early human endeavors to enhance food flavor. These ingredients not only added taste but also served diverse functions throughout history, ranging from culinary enhancement to medicinal properties.

The 13th century marked a pivotal moment in the systematic development of flavoring techniques. Pharmacies emerged as centers of innovation, pioneering the preparation of remedy oils that laid the groundwork for modern flavor extraction methods. Pharmacopeias of the era meticulously documented the properties and physiological effects of these oils, fostering a scientific approach to flavor exploration.

The Renaissance period witnessed a significant leap forward in flavor extraction technology. Essential oils, crucial components in both perfumery and flavoring, were refined through distillation techniques pioneered by pharmacies. This era saw the transformation of ancient practices into sophisticated processes, laying the groundwork for the burgeoning flavor industry of the future.

The 16th and 17th centuries marked a golden age for the flavor industry, as essential oils produced by pharmacies became prized commodities. These oils, initially intended for medicinal purposes, found new applications in perfumery and gastronomy, shaping the sensory landscape of the era.

In conclusion, the history of the food flavor industry before the 18th century is a testament to human ingenuity and innovation. From ancient practices to Renaissance refinement, each era contributed to the rich tapestry of flavors that define culinary experiences to this day.
History of Food Flavor Before the 18th Century

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Vanilla flavor

Vanilla is a costly spice next to saffron. The vanilla originated in Mexico, is a tropical orchid belonging to the own family Orchidaceae.

Vanilla flavor which is obtained from the seed pods of Vanilla planifolia orchid constitutes as an important ingredient of ice-cream, confectionery, milk, scent and even liqueur and cordial industry.

The active constituents of vanilla are responsible for its various biological and therapeutic activities. Composition of processed vanilla beans is fairly variable and complex due to a number of variables such as species, growth conditions, soil composition, fruit maturity and mainly, the type of processing.

Various non-volatile constituents that impart the characteristic flavor to vanilla include tannins, polyphenols, free amino acids and resins. All of these constituents together produce the delicate, rich and mellow aroma with sweet spicy, woody and balsamic notes.

Volatile constituents that are responsible for the aroma and flavor of vanilla are acids, ethers, alcohols, acetals, heterocyclics, phenolics, hydrocarbons, esters and carbonyls. Vanillin is the most important volatile compound in cured vanilla beans, which confers sweet and creamy notes that markedly enhance the vanilla flavor.

In a general, processed beans contain vanillin, vanillic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, proteins, sugars, fiber as hemicellulose and cellulose, waxes, resins, pigments, tannins, minerals and essential oils.

The flavor profile of vanilla contains more than 200 components, of which only 26 occur in concentrations greater than 1 mg/kg. Although, vanilla is a mixture of 200 compounds, the principal and characteristic flavor of vanilla is attributed mainly due to presence of vanillin (4-hydroxy-3- methoxybenzaldehyde), which occurs in a concentration of 1.0-2.0% w/w in cured vanilla pods. Vanillin is the most abundant compound in the vanilla extract and corresponds to 2.5- 4.5% dry weight of the pod.

Vanillin is a powerful inhibitor of purple blood cell sickling in patients with sickle mobile sickness. Vanillin has also determined to very non-public effective antimicrobial belongings.

The flavor quality of vanilla extracts vary considerably, depending upon the origin, curing technique used, storage conditions, extraction methods, and age of the vanilla extract itself.
Vanilla flavor

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What are flavor carriers?

A flavor is divided into three main parts: flavor components, carriers/solvents and other non-flavor ingredients. Demand for flavoring agent is growing which ultimately increasing natural flavor carrier demand in the market.

Flavor carriers are ingredients that carry the flavoring agents or are mixed as a liquid with flavors used to impart flavors to various food products and beverages. These provide solubility to flavoring compounds.

Flavor carriers are used by food technologists and flavor consultants to enhance sweetness, shelf life, and texture of food and beverages. Flavor carriers are also used as a processing aid in humectant processing. Flavor carriers work as food additives, processing aids, humectants, carriers, and solvents which replace maltodextrin in non-soluble applications. Flavor carriers can be used as a heat stabilizer in food and beverages products.

Natural flavors are created using ingredients from natural sources such as essential oils, extracts, etc. that are derived from spices, fruits, vegetables, barks, and other natural sources. While, artificial or synthetic flavorings are created from chemical sources rather than natural sources.

The most common carriers for flavor are food-safe solvents, most commonly propylene glycol, ethyl alcohol/ethanol, vegetable glycerin, and triacetin. To create a specific taste, chemists blend aromatic chemicals, essential oils, botanical extracts, essences, and anything else they might need to achieve the end product.

Flavor carriers are available in liquid and solid forms and find applications across flavors, extracts, aroma chemicals, colors, beverages, dairy, savory and bakery & confectionery. These are the daily need products which are available as ready to eat products without further preparation which contain flavor carriers as ingredients to enhance the taste, texture, color and durability of products.
What are flavor carriers?

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Unpleasant odors/tastes due to natural deterioration: Food off-flavors

Human-food interactions impact food acceptance and thereby the nutritional status of individuals. It is often said that even a hungry person would not eat if the sensory aspect of the food is offensive.

Flavor is one of the most important sensory qualities of a food. The flavor of a food is determined by a complex mix of taste, aroma, chemical response and texture.

Identification of the compounds causing an off-flavor in food and accurate quantification is critical in assessing the potential safety risks of a product or ingredient. Even when the tainting compounds are not at a level that would cause a safety concern, off flavors can have a significant impact on the quality and consumers' acceptability of products.

Off-flavors are widely defined as unpleasant odors or tastes resulting from the natural deterioration of a food. Off-flavors can be triggered by the involatiles detected by taste, but the main chemicals involved are the volatiles involved in odor response.

It is an atypical odor or taste may be due to incidental contamination of the food from environmental sources (e.g., airborne‐, waterborne‐, or packaging‐related chemicals) or may arise in the food itself (e.g., lipid oxidation, non-enzymatic browning or enzymatic action).

The oxidation can be enzymatic or nonenzymatic. Furthermore, off-flavors can be formed by the effect of heat on sugars and amino acids, such as Maillard reactions, by thermal degradation of phenolic acids, by oxidative and thermal degradation of carotenoids, and by thermal degradation of thiamine, or they can be derived as contaminants after solvent extraction.
Unpleasant odors/tastes due to natural deterioration: Food off-flavors 

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Ginger compound: Shogaols

Gingerols and shogaols are the chemesthetic compounds found in species from the Zingiber genus, ginger being the most common species. Shogaols, a monodehydrated gingerol was reported to be a pungent component of ginger.

Gingerols, through dehydration, form shogoals. Zingerone, a compound not found in fresh ginger, is formed by a retro-aldol reaction when gingerol is heated.

Usually, the fresh rhizome contains none or very small amounts of shogaols, while the dried rhizome is rich in shogaols. This suggests that shogaols are formed through dehydration during processing or storage of the fresh rhizome.

With formation of shogaols by the dehydration of gingerol, the pungency doubles - which is why aged ginger usually has a stronger bite.

HPLC is by far the most popular technique to separate and detect gingerols and shogaols in ginger.
Ginger compound: Shogaols

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Fruity flavor of ethyl butyrate

It is perhaps one of the most commonly used ester. It is small enough in molecular weight to yield a significant vapor pressure, ergo a good lift and impact.

Ethyl butyrate is a natural product of certain plants and has been detected in the volatile components from the following natural foods: US blue cheese, Beaufort mountain cheese, dalieb fruit, ripening bananas, commercial and concentrated aqueous orange essence, concord grape essence, tree-ripened nectarines and ripening kiwi fruit.

Ethyl butyrate has a fruity odor with a pineapple undernote and a sweet and analogous taste. It is virtually insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol.

This ester was granted GRAS status by FEMA (1965) and is approved as GRAS by the FDA for food use. It is used in many sweet products as an important aroma chemical. Ethyl butyrate finds its most usefulness in cherry flavors, rum and butterscotch flavors, apple flavors and chewing gum flavors.
Fruity flavor of ethyl butyrate

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Flavor production with latest technology

Throughout history, human beings have sought ways to enhance the flavor of the foods they eat. In the 21st century, biotechnology plays an important role in the flavor improvement of many types of foods.

The bio in ‘biotechnology’ means life and refers to microbes and other living cells including animal and plant cells. The technology comprises the growth of living cells in vats containing nutrients and oxygen at the specified conditions.

Since the introduction of the first genetically engineered whole food, in tomato in 1994, recombinant DNA technology had developed rapidly. The majority of genetic engineering imparted pest or pesticide resistance to the plant, whereas improved flavor quality has been aspired.

Feta cheese

In the production of fermented dairy products, the steps that involve biotechnology are mostly limited to the addition of a recombinant coagulant or of a modified bacterium as a starter culture.

Flavor production in dairy products is the result of microbial metabolism which, in turn, is determined by the entire set of genes related to the culture’s metabolic capability.

Health-oriented consumers are concerned over the possible adverse health effects of certain artificially produced food additives; thus, there is increasing preference for ‘natural’ products.

Flavors derived from plant tissue culture systems, microbial fermentation or bioconversion might be perceived to be more natural than their chemically synthesized equivalent.
Flavor production with latest technology

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Food packaging interactions: migration

Food-packaging interactions can be defined as a mass or energy interplay between food, packaging and the environment, which produces an effect on the food, and/or the package. Food packaging interactions can be divided into three main phenomena: migration, permeation and absorption.

These phenomena can occur separately or simultaneously and can affect food quality. Migration of packaging components, like residual monomers, additives or polymerization aids, can cause an undesirable contamination of food.

The migration of compounds from polymer pacing materials to foods was the first type of interaction to be investigated due to the concern that human health might be endangered by the leaching of residues from the polymerization.

Additives and fillers used during fabrication of polymeric food packaging material can migrate to foodstuff thereby contaminating and degrading the quality of packaged food. Packaging plastics can release small amounts of chemical upon coming in contact with foodstuffs.

Migration of such food components may adversely affect the quality of food, e.g. alteration of flavor. Therefore, knowledge of food packaging interaction, in terms of the species that can migrate from the packaging to the foodstuffs, is essential for assurance of food quality.

For example, polycarbonates and phenolic-epoxy resins, used for making plastic packaging containers and as food –can coatings respectively, may release bisphenol.

Migration processes can be divided into three classes:
Class 1 – Non-migrating materials, with or without the presence of food
Class 2- Independently migrating and not controlled by the food, although the presence of food may accelerate the migration
Class 3 – Leaching; migration controlled by the food; negligible in the absence of food
Food packaging interactions: migration

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Dill weed essential oil

Dill weed oil is produced in the United States, mainly in the northwest and in western Canada.

Dill weed oil, the volatile oil is obtained by steam distillation of the freshly cut stalks, leaves and seeds, at the immature fruiting stage of the plant Anethum garveolens L.

It has largely replaced both dill leaf and dill seed oil in a commercial food usage.  American dill weed has a strong, fresh, somewhat spicy, aromatic odor and a warm, slightly burning taste.

The oil is soluble in most fixed oils and in mineral oil. It is soluble usually with opalescence or turbidity, in propylene glycol, but it is practically insoluble in glycerin.

The major commercial use of dill is in the form of dill weed oil, used in the pickle industry to make dill pickles. It is also used for flavoring and seasoning by the food industry for such products such as condiments, meat preparations, potato chips, sauces, dips, chewing gum and candy.
Dill weed essential oil 

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Red wine vinegar flavor

Red wine vinegar, like apple cider vinegar, has been used for centuries for both medicinal and culinary purpose.

If the label reads either ‘red’, ‘white’, or ‘champagne’ wine vinegar, it’s made from 100% pure grape wine. Bacteria have converted the alcohol in the wine to acetic acid.

The earliest method for making it involved leaving wine in an open container and waiting for it to sour.

The acidity level must be at least 6%. Wine vinegar is aged in casks where it develops its typical aroma. 

Wine vinegar comes in red and white varieties. Because it’s made with red wine, the red variety has a strong, full flavor.

Red wine vinegar is stronger in flavor than white wine vinegar, it blends with herbs especially rosemary, garlic, onions and black pepper. Other best flavoring combination are savory sage, bay leaf and basil. Red wine vinegar is most often used as a marinade or in vinaigrette.

Flavored red wine vinegars also makes an excellent addition to soups, stews, meats and salad dressing.
Red wine vinegar flavor

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Caramel as food additive

Caramel is a complex mixture of brown flavoring/coloring substances produced when sugars are heated above their melting point during caramelization. During heating, the compounds breakdown and reassemble to form hundreds of different molecules that add flavor and aroma to foods.

Caramel is also used in flavorings and flavor enhancers for a wide range of foods, including caramels, cakes, and biscuits.

There are four classes of caramel used as food additives and they are defined by the reactant added to the carbohydrate during production.
*Plain caramel
*Caustic caramel
*Ammonia caramel
*Sulfite ammonia caramel

Caramel colorant must be compatible with food products in which they are used, which usually means the absence of flocculation and precipitation in the food.

Caramel is made up from the following food-grade carbohydrate: dextrose, invert sugar, lactose, malt syrup, molasses, starch hydrolysates, and fraction thereof and sucrose, by carefully controlled heat treatment. A large amount of commercial caramel is produced from liquid corn syrup or glucose syrup.

Caramel coloring is freely soluble in water and insoluble in most organic solvents. In concentrated form the colorant has a distinctive burned taste that is unnoticeable at the typical levels of use.

Caramel colors are the most widely used food coloring agents, contributing about 90% by weight of the total coloring agents supplied in the UK food industry. World-wide 80% has been quoted.

Caramelization is done in the industry with different catalysts to produce either flavor or color. For flavor purposes, sucrose is caramelized in concentrated syrup.

The caramel aroma is mainly due to a group of cyclic alkylenolones, dihydrofuranones, and pyrones.
Caramel as food additive

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Food Flavorings

Flavorings are compounds, many of which are natural, although there are also many synthetic ones that are added to foods to produce flavors or to modify existing flavors.

Flavorings are the complex mixtures of individual ingredients which are often natural constituents of food, and can be produce through physical means form traditional plant and animal sources, chemical synthesis and processes incorporating the techniques of modern biotechnology.

Flavoring means adding a new flavor to a food, thus changing or modifying the original flavor.

The flavor substances are comparatively strong smell organic compounds with characteristics, usually pleasant odor.

In the early days of human existence, salt, sugar, vinegar, herbs, spices, smoke, honey, and berries were added to foods to improve their taste or to produce a special, desirable taste.

The range of natural and synthetic flavoring available to the modern food technologists is very large.

Essential oils form a major source of flavorings. Most foods derive their characteristics flavor from chemicals that are present at levels ranging from parts per billion to parts per million.

With the discovery of distillation, it became possible to separate the flavor chemical mixture from botanical material.

Because of their weak effects, fruit extracts may be intensified by combining them with other flavorings.

Flavoring can be added at the beginning, middle or end, depending on the cooking time, the cooking process and the flavoring ingredient.
Food Flavorings

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Early food flavor before 19th century

In 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail to find seasoning. Today the influence of flavor in the world market place is no loess decisive. The rise and fall of corporate empires – of soft drinks companies, snack food companies and fast food chains - is frequently determined by how their products taste.

During the early days of history, people used mainly herbs and spices (whole or ground) to impart flavor to , or modify the flavor of, foods. It is to make food more appetizing, first by using spices and herbs and then by the extraction of fruits and aromatic plants during Middle Ages or distillation of essential oils.

The latter were predominantly used by pharmacists, and it was not until the 19th century that some people found out that essential oils can be used to impart flavor to foods.

It is believed that people began the practice of adding flavor to foods by marinating or soaking them in seasoned and salted liquid between the mid-1600s and the mid–1700s.

In the second half of the 19th century, chemists began to realize the flavoring potential of some synthetic chemicals e.g. vanillin.

Wohler and Liebig synthesized benzaldehyde in 1830 and this substance was identified in 1932 by Robiquet an Boutron-Charlard to be responsible for the odor of bitter almonds.

Thus was born the flavor industry around the middles of the 19th century.
Early food flavor before 19th century

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Food flavor

Food flavor normally are compounds, many of which are natural, although there are also many synthetic ones, which are added to foods to flavors or to modify exiting flavors.

Food flavor also may be a single chemical entity of naturals or synthetic origin. In the early days of human existence, salt, sugar, vinegar, herbs, spices were added to foods to improve their taste or to produce special, desirable taste.

The range of natural and synthetic flavorings available to the modern food technologists is very large.

Food flavor includes taste sensations perceived by the tongue- sweet ,salty, sour, bitter and smell perceived by the nose.

Often the term flavor and smell are used interchangeably. Food flavor and aroma are difficult to measure and difficult to get people to agree on.

The flavor if food is created by aromatic chemicals that are biosynthesized during normal metabolic processes in plants and animals and possible further modified by cooking or processed.

This intrinsic flavor of food represents the complex impact made by these aromatic components on the sense of odor and taste.

The definition makes clear that flavor is a property of (a material of food) as well as of the receptor mechanism of the person ingesting the food.
Food flavor

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The Flavor of Raw Meat

The Flavor of Raw Meat
Raw meat has very little flavor, effectively tasting of blood. Heating is required to develop the characteristic flavor through complex chemical reactions between the many nonvolatile components of meat.

A large number of volatile compounds is produced by these reactions, but only a relative few play an important role in determining flavor and aroma.

The precursors are present in raw muscle, being derived primarily from minority components.

Thee are primarily lipids and carbohydrates but also include other water soluble non-protein compounds such as amino acids, peptides, reducing sugars, vitamins and nucleotides.

The relationship between precursors and flavor of the meat is affected by five, possibly interacting, factors:

1. Specific-specific composition of meat
2. Variations due to the individual animal (including breed, age and sex)
3. Variations due to diet
4. Variations due to the course of postmortem glycolysis and condition
5. Variations due to cooking procedures.

Of these variations due to the individual animal and variations due to diet are factors controlled by primarily agriculture.
The Flavor of Raw Meat

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Brief History of Food Flavor Industry

Flavorings are a major category of ingredients intentionally added to food. It is a sensation evoked with a range of technical terms in Greek and Latin.

Their history began when people discovered that components characteristics of the aroma of natural products could be enriched by simple methods.

The known utilization of spices and herbs extends over some 5000 years, starting with the ancient Egyptian. One of spices and herbs functions according to the historical period was the enhancing of food flavour.

The flavour industry has developed only after the past 160 years from small beginnings in companies specializing in the processing and marketing of natural botanicals such as the herbs and spices, vanilla beans, vegetables drugs and the distillation of essential oils and aromatic essences, the isolation of aromatic chemicals from these products and drug extraction.

Systematic development began in the 13th century, when pharmacies started to prepare so-called remedy oils and later recorded the properties and physiological effects of these oils in pharmacopeias.

Many essential oils currently used by perfumes and flavorists were originally prepared by distillation in pharmacies in the 16th and 17th centuries.

It was not until the latter half of the 19th century that chemicals began to realize the flavouring possibilities of synthetic aromatic chemicals.

In 1858, vanilla was first crystallized from an alcoholic extract of vanilla beans by Gobley.

Methyl salicylates followed in 1859 as ‘artificial wintergreen oil’ and benzaldehyde in 1870 as ‘artificial butter almond oil’ were synthesized by chemical industry for fruity odor.

It was 1872 before Charles established its empirical formula and two years later before Tieman and Haarman reported its structure and later Reimer confirmed it by synthesizing vanillin from guaianol.

Tieman and Haarman later founded a company, Haarman and Reimer and started the first industrial production of vanillin.

At about the same time organic chemists were preparing a wide range of highly odorous aromatic chemicals which were later to be of great value to the flavour industry.

The flavor industry emerged in the mid nineteenth century processed foods began to be manufactured on large scale.

In the early part of the twentieth century, Germany’s powerful chemical industry assumed the technological lead in flavour production.

A solution of esters for use as artificial fruit essences were exhibited in a trade fair in London and shortly after were in use in the United States.

In 1869, the first book of artificial flavouring formulations was published anonymously in Philadelphia.

In 1916, Walters manual for the essence industry was released. Its named ‘Manual for the Essence Industry.’ The intermediate period between the late 1950s and the early 1960s, produce major breakthrough in raspberry and strawberry flavors.

Today the industry is dominated by several very large multinational flavour and fragrance companies mainly prime in natural products and/or synthetic chemicals which are used in the compounding of an almost limitless range of flavorings and fragrance products.
Brief History of Food Flavor Industry

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