Keeping up with consumers’ growing demand for delicious, natural, authentically flavored snack foods can pose challenges even for the most seasoned product developer. Unlike their chemical counterparts, which can be derived from all manner of chemical processes, clean-label and natural flavors are mainly captured from their parent spices, herbs, seeds, fruits or vegetables, and the processes are limited to those that will extract the essence naturally—expressing (by squeezing out essential oils); steeping in alcohol, water or oil; and distilling. All of these processes have definite impacts on your end result.
With the wide variety of clean-label flavor ingredients on the market, it can be difficult to know which ingredients will work best in your snack or bakery application. As a first installment of this new regular column focusing on clean label, here is a primer to guide you through the process of selecting the right flavor system for your product.