Baking & Snack - March 2018 - 74

Choosing clean colors for baked goods

FLAVORS

ment and satiety are all increasingly common."
These are laudable attributes in any formulation, and
there are many ingredients that are available to help
achieve these goals. However, Ms. Johnson said, while
consumers demand clean label, above all, they want
good flavor. "No matter how good for you a baked product is, if the consumer does not enjoy the taste, he or she
will not generate repeat purchases," she said.

Flavor modulators amplify
tastes and textures that
consumers find appealing
without negatively impacting
the Nutritional Facts Panel.
This is why bakers turn to masking and modulating
flavor systems. Masking agents, or flavor systems as they
are known in the industry, prevent undesirable flavors
from being perceived by the consumer. Flavor modulators, on the other hand, refer to ingredient systems that
assist with making other flavors or tastes - like salty or
sweet - more pronounced. The key is knowing how to
find the sweet spot between using one or the other.

When masking is a must
Masking flavors are non-characterizing, so they do
not affect the front label of a product. This is useful in
several baking applications. There are two standard
masking options: blocking and distracting.
"The first uses flavor materials that bond with receptor sites to block undesirable perceptions, such as bitter
taste or pungent aroma," said Paulette Lanzoff, technical director, Synergy Flavors. "The second, and more
commonly used method, fools the senses in order to
distract consumers from the off-notes present in the
application."
Kayla Blanding, application technologist at Synergy
Flavors, said masking flavors are useful in reducing or
eliminating off-notes such as bitterness, metallic or unfavorable tastes in baked goods. Ingredients such as artificial sweeteners, preservatives and glycerin benefit from
masking technology in baked goods because of the bitter taste often associated with these ingredients. "Even
seemingly normal ingredients such as whole grain, cocoa powder and sodium bicarbonate can benefit from
flavor masking," she said.
Synergy Flavors has experience in masking several
nutritional products beyond baked foods. Solutions
found in other product channels may also work well in
this sector, according to Ms. Blanding.

74 Baking & Snack March 2018 / www.bakingandsnack.com

More than three-quarters of North American
food and beverage launched in 2017 used
color from natural sources, according
to Mintel. Bakers must note that natural
sourcing does not qualify a color for use in
organic baked goods.
Bakers of organic products have several options during color selection. Products labeled
"100% organic" must be made with organiccertified colors. Baked goods labeled "made
with organic" contain at least 70% organic ingredients, and thus organic-certified colors are
not required. These products, much like baked
goods labeled "organic," which may contain
up to a maximum of 5% non-organic ingredients produced according to the principles of
the National Organic Program (NOP), typically
use colors made from natural sources produced and recognized as NOP-compliant ingredients. Such ingredients are made without
synthetic solvents, are free from preservatives
and are not made with prohibited methods,
such as genetic engineering, among other
stipulations.
"Not all natural colors are available as
organic," said Zack Henderson, technical
service manager, baking, Sensient Colors.
Sensient Color's current certified organic
portfolio includes reds, pinks and browns.
It is launching oranges this year, as well as
the industry's first-ever certified organic blue
vegetable juice color, which will provide not
only a blue component but also a building
block for purples and greens.
"Just as organic produce and spices are
more expensive, bakers will find that organic food colors are more expensive," said
Carol Locey, director of product management, colors, Kalsec. "However, the relative
cost of using coloring in a food is a small
portion of the total cost; therefore the use
of organic colors is manageable." Kalsec
currently offers certified organic paprika.
The company will be introducing certified
organic annatto this year.
Food Ingredient Solutions offers certified
organic annatto, red beet, black carrot, caramel and elderberry colors. "Most customers
continue to use organic-compliant colors
where possible because they tend to have
better availability and a lower cost-in-use,"
said Jeff Greaves, founder and manager,
Food Ingredient Solutions. "The market
for certified organic colors is still relatively
small, so the cost of these items is high and
availability limited."

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Baking & Snack - March 2018

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