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About Flavours
We have the pleasure to inform you about flavours
Natural and artificial flavours are defined for the consumer in the Code of Federal Regulations. A key line from this definition is the following: ” a natural flavour is the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavouring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavouring rather than nutritional.” Synthetic flavours are those that are made from components that do not meet this definition.
The question at hand, however, appears to be less a matter of legal definition than the “real” or practical difference between these two types of flavourings.
There is little substantive difference in the chemical compositions of natural and artificial flavourings. They are both made in a laboratory by a trained professional, a “flavourist,” who blends appropriate chemicals together in the right proportions. The flavourist uses “natural” chemicals to make natural flavourings and “synthetic” chemicals to make synthetic flavourings. The flavourist creating synthetic flavouring must use the same chemicals in his formulation as would be used to make a natural flavouring, however. otherwise, the flavouring will not have the desired flavour. The distinction in flavourings–natural versus artificial–comes from the source of these identical chemicals and may be likened to saying that an apple sold in a gas station is artificial and one sold from a fruit stand is natural.
This issue is somewhat confusing to the average consumer in part because of other seeming parallels in the world. One can, for example, make a blue dye out of blueberry extract or synthetic pigments. These dyes are very different in chemical composition yet both yield a blue color. Similarly, consider one shirt made from wool and another from nylon. Both are shirts, but they have very different chemical compositions. This diversity of building blocks is not possible in flavourings–one makes a given flavour only by using specific chemicals. Thus, if a consumer purchases an apple beverage that contains an artificial flavour, she will ingest the same primary chemicals that she would take in if she had chosen a naturally flavoured apple beverage and the same chemicals that nature provided during the apple ripening.
When making a flavour, the flavourist always begins by going to the scientific literature and researching what chemicals nature uses to make the desired flavour. He then selects from the list of flavour components found in, say, real apples, generally simplifying nature list to eliminate those chemicals that make little contribution to taste or are not permitted owing to toxicity. (Nature has no restrictions on using toxic chemicals, whereas the flavourist does.) The flavourist then either chooses chemicals that are natural (isolated from nature as described above) or synthetic chemicals (made by people) to make the flavour.
So is there truly a difference between natural and artificial flavourings? Yes. Artificial flavourings are simpler in composition and potentially safer because only safety-tested components are utilized. Another difference between natural and artificial flavourings is cost. The search for “natural” sources of chemicals often requires that a manufacturer go to great lengths to obtain a given chemical. Natural coconut flavourings, for example, depend on a chemical called massoya lactone. Massoya lactone comes from the bark of the Massoya tree, which grows in Malaysia. Collecting this natural chemical kills the tree because harvesters must remove the bark and extract it to obtain the lactone. Furthermore, the process is costly. This pure natural chemical is identical to the version made in an organic chemists laboratory, yet it is much more expensive than the synthetic alternative. Consumers pay a lot for natural flavourings. But these are in fact no better in quality, nor are they safer, than their cost-effective artificial counterparts.
NUTRITION FACTS:
Great for any application.
Ouf flavours are offered as water soluble and oil soluble.
Water soluble flavours are based on pharmaceutical grade propylene glycol and water. Average caloric count for water soluble flavours is 200 calories for 100 grams flavour. Oil soluble flavours are based on sunflower oil or triacetin. Average caloric count is 700 calories for 100 grams flavour. Considering an average use of our flavours of 0.3%, the calories contribution in food by our flavours is between 0,5 to 2 calories for 100 grams serving. Let’s say, calories contribution by our flavours is negligible.
Our flavours DOES NOT contain sugars, protein, genetic modified ingredients, animal ingredients of any kind, preservatives, sweeteners and colors. They are all gluten and peanut free. Great for diabetics, vegetarian and vegans.
How I can use flavourings in my kitchen?
Our flavours are realized to perform when used at 1 up to 5 grams of flavour for a Kg of finished product.
In order to help our users to dose them correctly, we offer the opportunity to purchase a set of plastic pipettes. Five drops out from this pipette, represents 0,1 g of flavour, so an amount useful to flavour 100 g of food product.
Before use our flavours on larger amount of food, we suggest to experiment a little bit. Try them in a 100 ml of vegetable oil, add 5 drops and taste. If too much reduce, if low, increase.
Moreover, please keep in mind that cooking process, cold or iced food, amount of fat, sugar and proteins reduce the flavour intensity, so when flavours are used in such conditions, a little over dosing might be required.
Flavours bind very well with food matrix and fat, sugars, proteins “catch” the flavour molecules, thus make them less available for the taste buds. Generally speaking, richer the food, less the flavour will be perceived.
Super fat or high protein foods will require flavour overdosing, to make it comes out well. Flavour use, food technology and personal taste, are a combination of science and human preferences, so a little experimentation is needed before achieve satisfactory results.
TASTE MECHANISM
Flavour is a complex mixture of sensory input composed of taste (gustation), smell (olfaction) and the tactile sensation of food as it is being munched, a characteristic that food scientists often term “mouthfeel.”
Although people may use the word “taste” to mean “flavour,” in the strict sense it is applicable only to the sensations arising from specialized taste cells in the mouth. Scientists generally describe human taste perception in terms of four qualities: saltiness, sourness, sweetness and bitterness. Some have suggested, however, that other categories exist as well—most notably umami, the sensation elicited by glutamate, one of the 20 amino acids that make up the proteins in meat, fish and legumes. Glutamate also serves as a flavour enhancer in the form of the additive monosodium glutamate (MSG).
Taste cells lie within specialized structures called taste buds, which are situated predominantly on the tongue and soft palate. The majority of taste buds on the tongue are located within papillae, the tiny projections that give the tongue its velvety appearance. (The most numerous papillae on the tongue—the filiform, or threadlike, ones—lack taste buds, however, and are involved in tactile sensation). Of those with taste buds, the fungiform (“mushroomlike”) papillae on the front part of the tongue are most noticeable; these contain one or more taste buds. The fungiform papillae appear as pinkish spots distributed around the edge of the tongue and are readily visible after taking a drink of milk or placing a drop of food coloring on the tip of the tongue.
SALTS, such as sodium chloride (NaCl), trigger taste cells when sodium ions (Na+) enter through ion channels on microvilli at the cell’s apical, or top, surface. The accumulation of sodium ions causes an electrochemical change called depolarization that results in calcium ions (Ca++) entering the cell. The calcium, in turn, prompts the cell to release chemical signals called neurotransmitters from packets known as vesicles. Nerve cells, or neurons, receive the message and convey a signal to the brain. Taste cells repolarize, or “reset,” themselves in part by opening potassium ion channels so that potassium ions (K+) can exit.
ACIDS taste sour because they generate hydrogen ions (H+) in solution. Those ions act on a taste cell in three ways: by directly entering the cell; by blocking potassium ion (K+) channels on the microvilli; and by binding to and opening channels on the microvilli that allow other positive ions to enter the cell. The resulting accumulation of positive charges depolarizes the cell and leads to neurotransmitter release.
SWEET STIMULI, such as sugar or artificial sweeteners, do not enter taste cells but trigger changes within the cells. They bind to receptors on a taste cell’s surface that are coupled to molecules named G-proteins. This prompts the subunits (a , b and g ) of the G-proteins to split into a and bg , which activate a nearby enzyme. The enzyme then converts a precursor within the cell into so-called second messengers that close potassium channels indirectly. Just as important as ingesting the appropriate nutrients is not ingesting harmful substances. The universal avoidance of intensely bitter molecules shows a strong link between taste and disgust. Toxic compounds, such as strychnine and other common plant alkaloids, often have a strong bitter taste. In fact, many plants have evolved such compounds as a protective mechanism against foraging animals. The sour taste of spoiled foods also contributes to their avoidance. All animals, including humans, generally reject acids and bitter-tasting substances at all but the weakest concentrations. The intense reactions of pleasure and disgust evoked by sweet and bitter substances appear to be present at birth and to depend on neural connections within the lower brain stem.
The strong link between taste and pleasure—or perhaps displeasure—is the basis of the phenomenon of taste-aversion learning. Animals, including humans, will quickly learn to avoid a novel food if eating it causes, or is paired with gastrointestinal distress.
The “Taste Map”: All Wrong
One of the most dubious “facts”about taste—and one that is commonly reproduced in textbooks—is the oft-cited but misleading “tongue map” showing large regional differences in sensitivity across the human tongue. These maps indicate that sweetness is detected by taste buds on the tip of the tongue, sourness on the sides, bitterness at the back and saltiness along the edges. Taste researchers have known for many years that these tongue maps are wrong. The maps arose early in the 20th century as a result of a misinterpretation of research reported in the late 1800s, and they have been almost impossible to purge from the literature. In reality, all qualities of taste can be elicited from all the regions of the tongue that contain taste buds. At present, there is no evidence that any kind of spatial segregation of sensitivities contributes to the neural representation of taste quality, although there are some slight differences in sensitivity across the tongue and palate.
Can I mix flavours together?
Of course, mixing flavors together is always recommended when you want to increase the level of complexity of the aromatic components.
It’s always good to keep in mind that you must dose individual flavors wisely to avoid an unbalanced result.
Discover the genuineness of our ingredients
Nature is our master, and diversity is the key that makes everything special.
We always bear this in mind when creating new flavours for you. Flavours can be quite simple blends of just a few raw materials, but often are extremely complex blends of essential oils, flavour chemical compounds, natural extracts, distillates, and absolutes.
The use of super critical CO2 extracts, and natural flavour complexes obtained by bio-conversion and controlled fermentation, are other raw materials often used to create your flavours. In this endless always fascinating palette, we must be able to choose the purest and finest.
With well over 1200 raw materials utilized in flavour creation and hundreds more food ingredients in stock, Flavourart is capable of satisfying the most demanding requirements concerning creation and innovation.
Combining a consolidate proprietary database of flavour formulas, creativity and service, we can realize almost every flavour to suit your needs. We keep commercial relationships with suppliers from all over the world, together with research institutes and universities, so that we can use the most updated scientific information.
When you purchase a flavour, you expect not only great taste, but good performance in the food base. A flavour must be simple to use, simple to dose, and of course it must withstand all of the application parameters involved in production. The flavour should also maintain it’s profile during the shelf life of the product with minimum changes, and also be competitive in price. Demands regarding flavours are extremely difficult to achieve. Flavour creation is and always will be a delicate and complex task. However the result of working together with you the customer, can achieve a small masterpiece that we can both remember and be very proud of.
I noticed that some products are available with oil base, in which kind of food should I use that?
Flavourings that contain oil soluble base are ideal for the preparation of oils or very fatty matrix. For all other uses we suggested the use of flavourings in water soluble base.
About VAT
We have been asked why we apply 22% VAT on our orders, both for goods sent inside and outside EU We would like to avoid that, but unfortunately this is our fiscal requirement. As we are a officially registered Italian company, we have to obey legislative requirements.
We already investigated this issue several times, in order to see if we could avoid the addition of 22% VAT to orders coming outside Italy. This is the situation:
For EU customers VAT is not levied if recipient customer owns a regular VAT number, so if it is a commercial or production company. In this case, our web shop offers this opportunity, and customer can have VAT exemption using a valid VAT number filled in VAT field during customer registration process.
For private user, whom do not own a VAT number, we have no option and we have to add it.
For non EU customers VAT is not levied if orders are delivered by courier and they clear custom. Custom fee for flavouring materials is around 6% of invoice value and will be charged to recipient customer, (check this with local custom. Taric code for flavorings is 3302 10) .
Consider that courier might require additional costs for related paperwork.
We deliver with Fedex, so for those interested is possible to check with your local Fedex affiliate. For this type of order, Flavourart has the burden of proof with fiscal authorities that fees has been payed at destination, and we have to file all invoices and related custom documents. Private customer however will likely prefer to have small flavour orders delivered by regular and cheap mail. In this case, there is not the custom clearance, and the 22% VAT will be levied to the order. In practice, private non EU customers should evaluate the situation and decide if pay 22% VAT or clear local custom, and pay higher cost of courier delivered goods, considering that sometimes, depending of recipient country, custom clearance can be a complicated procedure.
For USA market, we are evaluating a partnership with a local reseller or distributor. This company will be able to purchase in bulk with a local re packaging, and will offer our products at a convenient price for US customers.
Local legislation that covers VAT and its application with foreign countries is: d.l. 30/08/1993 n° 331, art. 41, point B d.p.r. 633/1972 art 8, point A/B