Prepared Foods - October 2008 - (Page 67)

ingredient challenges @ISTOCKPHOTO A Matter of Balancing Taste Incorporating an acidulant into a food or beverage not only aids in preservation, but also in developing a product’s characteristic taste and flavor. This is particularly true for sweetened foods and beverages in which sugar and acid are in a constant battle for taste domination. Alison Matalanis, Contributing Editor W hen choosing a sweetener for an acidulated food or beverage, product developers face a host of choices. Besides imparting a sweet taste, sweeteners also influence other important product attributes, including viscosity, flavor intensity, aftertaste and the perception of other tastes in a product. For example, as sensory studies have confirmed, perceived sourness is reduced with increasing levels of sweetener. In sensory science, this general phenomenon is commonly known as mixture suppression, which can be quite useful in situations where acids need to be elevated to improve microbial stability. However, at high levels, the product can taste too sour. Increasing the formula’s sweetener level will help suppress some of the unwanted sourness. Sensory adaptation is another important consideration, when formulating a sweetened food or beverage. Adaptation is defined as a reduction in the perceived intensity of a taste following multiple exposures to the tastant, the chemical that stimulates the sensory cells in a taste bud. As an individual continues to consume a sweetened food or beverage, the perceived sweetness tends to decline. Research in this area suggests that non-nutritive, high-intensity sweeteners are more likely to result in sensory adaptation, when compared to nutritive sweeteners. In sweet-sour mixtures, sensory studies have shown sweetness intensity declined over inorganic acid often used in time, while sourness intensity remained constant. colas and other dark-colored, These findings emphasize carbonated sodas. Its strength the importance of evaluand neutral flavor make it a ating food products under realistic eating conditions. desirable choice for low-pH A single sip of a beverage foods and beverages. or a bite of food will not provide an accurate picture of a consumer’s sensory experience. From a caloric perspective, non-nutritive, high-intensity sweeteners are a great alternative to nutritive sweeteners, such as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and table sugar (sucrose). Unfortunately, most of these high-intensity sweeteners also impart some bitterness and a lingering aftertaste to products. One potential solution is to create a blend of non-nutritive sweeteners that complement each other. For example, a sweetener with a faster onset of sweetness could be blended with another sweetener with delayed sweetness. In the case of acesulfame-K and aspartame blends, aspartame offsets the bitter taste associated with acesulfame-K. In addition to reducing bitterness, this blend is also syner- Phosphoric acid is a strong, www.PreparedFoods.com ● October 2008 67 http://www.PreparedFoods.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Prepared Foods - October 2008

Prepared Foods - October 2008 Contents Hitting the Shelves Winning Way—Spirit of Innovation Award Winners—Foodservice and Retail MarketWatch Novel Ingredients for Sports Nutrition Products NutraNews The Flavors of Cooking On the National Menu A Matter of Balancing Taste Solving Problems with Dairy Ingredients Colorings: Will I Be Blue? Coloring with Confidence: Inclusions R&D Applications Seminar: Answers for Dairy and Confectionery Applications R&D Applications: Naturally Vibrant Colors R&D Applications: Healthy Foods with Flavor Abstracts

Prepared Foods - October 2008

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