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If you're a food and drink brand and your product isn't performing the way it should, maybe the sales have slowed down or the review keep mentioning that the taste is not that great. I have created something to help you. It's called the Flavour Blueprint. It's a free guide that based on the process I use with my clients to fix their underperforming products.
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If you're tired of guessing and you want clarity before another batch, download your free flavour blueprint. If you want to create food or drink products that actually taste amazing, get the repeat purchases and see your sales go up.
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You need the flavour strategy. I'm Manon Galizzi, food scientist and flavour expert. And in this podcast I share what I've learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch. Choose the right flavour direction or fix the flavours that are not working.
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Welcome to another day of this 30 day podcast challenge. Today I'm going to give you six rules to stop having rubbish tasting in your food and drink business and instead start creating great tasting that will actually be useful for your product development.
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Rule number one, avoid spicy food, coffee and tea or smoking cigarettes two hours before tasting because they completely dull your palate. So if you're planning to have a tasting in the morning, think about the fact that people come to the office and the first thing they're going to do is they're going to have a coffee, even if it has milk or strong tea with milk they may have a cigarette just before coming to the office.
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So if you plan the testing, so plan just maybe a little bit later and remind people to not take any coffee, drink or cigarettes just before testing if you're doing after lunch. Reminds again people to avoid spicy food because you're going to have a, tasting or do it later in the afternoon.
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But personally I always enjoy having tasting in the morning because by the end of the day you are tired, your palate is tired, the afternoon is never a good time to have a tasting. Rule number two, cleanse your palate between samples with water and cream cracker.
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And we don't often realize that we actually don't do that. And we try a sample, we try another, we try another and accordingly to what you had before, that will influence the taste of your next sample.
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So between samples, always have cream cracker, or water cracker, I can't remember how they called something very simple, no pepper, no cheese cracker, no herbs cracker, something that is completely plain and some water so that cleans completely your palate.
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Three, stay objective and avoid at any cost personal preferences such as I like it, I don't like it, it doesn't taste nice, it tastes nice, etc. Etc. Focus on describing the product attribute, characteristic, describe, describe as much as possible.
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And once you finish describing all of your samples, this is where you can have a look back at the descriptors and then you can take the decision. Which one do we want to move forward, which one we want to discard, which one we want to keep.
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But definitely with certain twists and what the twist needs to be. I've just done an episode a few days ago about it, so I will put the link of the episode in the description of the episode. So I would definitely recommend to listen to this one for more understanding of, of what I mean by staying objective and avoid personal preferences like that.
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Number four, understand your personal palate and your sensitivities. So, for example, I am very sensitive to licorice because I hate it. There's not a lot of things. There's a few things that I don't really like, but there are few that I absolutely hate, and licorice is one of them.
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Just the smell of licorice just completely put me off. But obviously a lot of stevia on the market have that licorice taste. So for me, because I have this sensitivity and I hate licorice 99% of the time, when a product has stevia in it, I can pick it up because of the licorice notes.
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So when I work with my clients and we discuss on, describing the product, all of the samples, I will never say out loud, oh, my God, this is so strong. And licorice, this is disgusting. Because I know that I'm very sensitive to it.
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I know my palate very well. I know that I'm very sensitive to brown flavours like honey, vanilla, caramel. Also, I can pick up very easily Green. Another reference which is associated with green tomato or cut grass, I can pick it very easily.
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I'm much more blind for floral notes, for example. So because I understand my palate, I know the target consumers of my clients will never be.
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No one will ever have on this planet the same palate as I have. Not only because I am French, but I'm also Mediterranean with Italian background. And the way my parents have brought me, the way they educated me around food, around, cooking is the opposite of what you can find in the north of France, for example, Brittany or Normandy.
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So having all of the differences is also genetic. So it's genetic it's cultural. Nothing on this planet will have the same palate as I have. So when I come to a tasting, knowing my palate, I have also to be very mindful that not a lot of people actually can pick up on that licorice note from stevia.
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My partner, for example, is completely blind. He can never pick up on that licorice note, even when I say, does it taste licorice? No. He says that there's something there that is not pleasant. But I, can't put my finger on what it is.
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So a lot of people are blind to this licorice note from stevia. So in a tasting, be mindful of your own sensitivity. It's the same for bitterness. If you are very sensitive to bitterness, you can't come in a tasting and say, it is so bitter, so bitter.
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You have to moderate yourself. It is bitter. But I know I am very sensitive to bitterness. Does anyone else feel that bitterness? Okay, maybe it's just me. And it's also the role of the person who is holding the tasting to understand everyone's sensitivity.
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And do not just write down every single comment, especially when there is something that is strong or something that is weak. Number five. Remember, the product is not designed for you, but for your target consumers. So if you don't like it, it doesn't matter.
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I know it's hard because as a food and drink business, you obviously want to create product that you like first, that your team like first. So you think, if I like it, if my team like it, if my parents like it, my family like it, then all of my target consumers are going to like it.
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Of course, no I have a client who doesn't like one of the products we've developed, but their consumers absolutely love it. Their sales are touching the roof.
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They are already out of stock where the product just been launched two months ago. The only thing he doesn't like, it's not like he doesn't like the entire product. He just think that is slightly too sweet. And again, we all are different sensitivities regarding the sweetness.
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But the current the product that is on the market we've developed is 4.9 out of 5 on the reviews. 46 reviews says how amazing this product tastes, how good it is, how incredible it tastes.
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It's a game changer. This word came so many times. Only 2% mention out of 46 mention that they don't like the taste and the sweetness. So at one point, you have to create a product that your target consumers want despite the fact that maybe it's a bit too sweet for you.
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Maybe there's something that you don't really like. Put yourself in the shoes of your customers. And rule number six, build blocks gradually when you do a tasting. The first level, when you try the first time, I, always suggest to focus on the basic taste.
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Is it sweet? How sweet it is, Is it salty? Is it bitter? Is it umami? Then have a feel of the different flavours that can come up. But something very light. Okay, can I pick up maybe a red berry? Oh, is it strawberry? Is it mint? Is it orange?
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Something very first level. The second level, then you go deeper in each attribute, strength and especially the flavour attributes. Is it a bit woody? Is it earthy?
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Is it jammy? Is it caramelic? All of these more nuanced notes. And the third level is all about mouthfeel. That is spicy, like hot spices. Is it cold? Is it astringent?
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Does it make my mouth water? And you can eat the product multiple times if necessary. I always recommend it do these three levels. So try three times the product and then the more you taste, the more you will be able to recognize what is.
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Because, let's be honest, when the flavour is very complex, like wine, for example, you have a sip of it and the flavours go in an instant. Especially when you drink something, when you chew, you have a little bit more time. But anything that you drink, you literally have two seconds to guess a dozen of characteristics.
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It can be completely overwhelming. You don't have time just like, oh, it's gone. So you can take your time and breathe and exhale during the tasting. Because all of the aroma compound has to go through the nose and all of the aroma receptors which are in the nose to be able to be detected by afterwards the brain.
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So breathe. That will help you make all of the aroma compound travel to the nose and be able to distinguish them. As always, I hope this episode was helpful.
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If you can find all of my tips around tasting flavours and product development in my newsletter. So don't forget to subscribe and I will see you tomorrow for another episode of my 30 day challenge. Bye.
