Continental Seasoning, Inc. is proud of its ability to utilize cutting edge technology to enhance the functional performance of our seasonings. Consequently, where appropriate, synthetic and artificial ingredients may be used in addition to natural items.
One such class of artificial ingredients are flavors and fragrances. Though comparable and often times superior to natural flavors and fragrances, these products are sometimes misunderstood by the general public.
We have supplied some information on this topic that should be helpful to processors and consumers alike. Periodically, new topics will be published on this page.
Flavors and fragrances are substances that stimulate the senses of taste and smell. With the exception of the four primary taste sensations, sweet, sour, salty and bitter, flavor characteristics are the result of our perception of odor; the difference between a flavor and a fragrance is in large part only semantic distinction. Thus, a substance that provides an odor in an alternative item may also be used to add flavoring to food.
Most natural flavorings and fragrances are derived from plant substances. Either from the aromatic, volatile vegetable oils known as essential oils, or from nonvolatile plant oils called resins. The aromatic substances derived from flowers, from herbs and spices, and from animal secretions (musk and ambergris, for example) are usually costly and limited in supply. Over the past century, success in reproducing some of these substances synthetically has created a new industry that today produces hundreds of flavors and fragrances for use in food and other products.
Some fragrant substances are relatively easy to synthesize. Vanillin,
the aromatic ingredient in vanilla, can be readily reproduced by synthesis, as
can benzaldehyde, the pricipal component of the odor of wild cherry. Only
recently has it become possible to separate these components, using gas
chromotography, and to determine their chemical structure with the aid of
spectroscopy. Once the chemical makeup has been determined, it is often
possible to reproduce it synthetically. The search for new synthetics
continues.
Bibliography: Some excerpts from 1999 Grolier Encyclopedia Deluxe.