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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 Flavor 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 product that actually tastes amazing, get the repeat purchases and see your sales go up.
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You need a flavour strategy. I'm Manon Galizi, 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. Even the most natural flavourings can taste fake.
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Welcome to another episode of my 30 day podcast challenge. And today we are going to burst a big myth around extract and essences. And this is a mistake I see very often with my clients or food and drink businesses I talk to during events and shows is always they think by using an extract or an essence, they will get as close as possible as the natural taste of the fruit.
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So for example, a lemon extract will taste as close as possible as a lemon juice and the same for cucumber essence. And you actually can't be as far away from the truth. Extract and essences still have processes to extract everything from the named fruit.
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So it can be a lemon, an orange, a cinnamon or cucumber. Whatever the source is, it will have to go through a process of extraction. And by that process of extraction, sometimes they use solvent.
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Most of the time is ethanol, Sometimes is only, done with water. But with this extraction, we are selecting some raw materials, not all of the raw materials, and the aroma compounds from, from the fruit.
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So let's say a lemon, for example, will be extracted. They use specific time, temperature and solvent to extract specific aroma compounds. So having a lemon extract will never ever be the same as having the zest of the lemon or having the juice of the lemon.
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Not only that, but also when you add these extracts and essences to your product, there is no guarantee that the taste after the process, after everything will be as close as possible as the real fruit.
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Again, like a, lemon juice or a lemon zest. Because your product will also go through a lot of ingredient interactions. They will go through process and shelf life. And all of this Mix means that even though you try to have the holy grail of the flavourings by having extract and essences, there is no guarantee that it's gonna taste like that.
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As close as possible as the fruit once is added to your product when the process is done. So even the most natural of the flavourings, which are, extract and essences, can taste fake, artificial, cardboardy, confectionary chemical.
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They can taste absolutely horrible in your product. So rather than focusing on having the holy grail of the flavouring, which are, by the way, not very good for the planet, let's be honest. I know that we always say, oh, non natural flavourings, they are bad for you.
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There are actually no scientific evidence, none that non natural flavourings can cause any damage to our health. There was some scientific research done on non natural colorings that we know, but around flavourings there is absolutely no scientific data that prove that they are doing something bad for health.
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But let me tell you, extract and essences and oleoresin do damage a lot the planet because you need shit ton of a product to create an extract. And by the way, most of the product that you use go to the bin.
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Sometimes it can go to animal farming, so to feed the animals. But most of the time, like if you think about vanilla, you need tons and tons of vanilla bean to create all of this tiny, to create just one liter of extract, tons.
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And once you've used the beans, what happen? They are just thrown away. What a waste, what a waste. Sometimes they are reused, to create oleoresin or they can be reused, somewhere else or to create powders and things like that.
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But by that point they have no flavours left. If you try some of the vanilla powders that you have from these beans, they taste nothing at all. So it creates a, lot of waste. It's a lot of resources that are just extracted and just the rest goes to the bin.
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So not only you're wrong if you think that extract and essences taste exactly like the fruit, Let me tell you, for cucumber, I dislike cucumber essences. They taste so much fattier and grassier than a normal cucumber.
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Non cucumber essence on this planet will taste like a normal fresh cucumber. None. They really taste like a cucumber that is overriped, you let in the fridge for way too long, that sort of cucumber.
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And that is just the process, that is just the way it is. Cucumber is 90% water, so when you go through extractions, then the aroma compounds are so fragile, they just evaporate. And it's very, very hard to create this fine balance or flavour profile in an essence.
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So rather than focusing in term of marketing, because most of the time, let's be honest, it's about marketing. I want to use an essence or an extract because I want product to look very natural, which is understandable. But there is nothing wrong with natural flavourings.
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Nothing wrong. Rather than focusing on already what is on, pack of pack and all of the story you're going to tell your customers and things like that, think about the flavour profile first. Okay, this is. If you want to use extra essences, no problem at all.
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But focus on what it tastes like in your product rather than just be like, no, I need to use extract, I need to use essences because they are super natural. Natural it is shit. Sorry to be blunt, but if your product tastes shit with extract and essences, it's time for you to rethink your strategy and actually focus on how to make your product taste great.
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Then use natural flavourings. Use, all sorts of different ingredients. But don't focus on extract or essences just for the sake of it. Just for the marketing standpoint, the product has to taste great first. Don't forget we want to think about repeat purchasing, not just buyers buying.
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Once your product and it tastes disgusting, then never buy it again. We want that repeat purchase and it has to come through taste and flavours. I hope you find this little kick in the butt episode helpful.
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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. Bye.
