Natural flavourings don’t just spring fully formed from fruits and plants; they are the product of complex extraction processes that get at the essence – literally – of those taste and smell molecules. This is how science uses a few crude materials to produce the natural flavours that go into your food.
Physical Extraction Methods
The easiest is the physical seizure process. Cold pressing extracts oil from citrus peels with a press, keeping the bright, fresh tastes captured in it instead of losing them to hot methods. This steam distillation involves pressing the stems with steam which then transports volatile aromatic compounds through plant materials till condensation, where they are cooled and collected. It works really well for herbs, spices and flowers. For Natural Flavourings, visit //foodieflavours.com/collections/natural-flavourings
Solvent Extraction
Solvents such as ethanol and CO2 extract flavour compounds from the source material for more delicate flavours. After the extraction process is ended, they carefully evaporate that solvent from this extract in order to leave it with a natural flavour. Wonderfully brainy, supercritical CO2 extraction sees carbon dioxide turn to liquid at extremely high pressure. The solvent evaporates entirely away immediately afterwards without trace: no residue is left behind.
Enzymatic and Fermentation Processes
Contemporary methods do this by breaking down plant materials with enzymes to emit flavour compounds, which aren’t available through a basic brewing-infusion. Fermentation brings novel natural flavours as enzymes convert raw substances into complex taste profiles in products ranging from vanilla to umami.
Preserving Authenticity
The challenge is to preserve that whole spectrum of flavour, not just one big note. There are hundreds of aroma compounds working in synergy within real strawberries. Part of the reason for using extraction is to glean all this complexity and therefore natural flavourings will often taste more rounded as opposed to those that have been synthesised.