Culinary products

Process flavourings are typically used at a level of 0.1-2% in culinary products such as bouillons, sauces, but also in snacks, desserts and confectionery. The aimual production is estimated at 6750 tons in the USA [3] and about 4500 tons in Europe [4], Process flavourings have been reviewed amongst others by van den Ouweland [5], May [6], Salzer [7], Manley [8, 9], Manley and Ahmedi [3] and Kerler and Winkel [10]. 

Savoury process flavourings are widely used in culinary products to boost meat flavour (beef, chicken, pork, lamb, veal) or other notes (fish, seafood, vegetable). The development of meat-like process flavours started in the 1950s and the first patents were published in 1960. To date meat-like and other savoury flavours still represent the largest volumes of all process flavourings produced. 

Culinary products can be divided into three different textures. These are liquid (e.g. liquid seasoning), paste (mayonnaise) and dehydrated (bouillon cubes). 

Considering the importance of flavour with regard to the quality and consumer acceptance of culinary products, several food companies were in the past very active in the field of flavours and had large in-house divisions for flavour research and produc-... 

Imparting a particular flavour to culinary products is part of culinary art that is required in both home-style cooking and foodservice to deliver tasty food to consumers. Kitchen chefs and food developers use home-style preparations as the reference to be achieved, considering known constraints such as freshness upon storage (shelf-life), time of preparation (convenience), consistent ingredients quality (cost, availability), need for flexibility to cope with consumer trends and regulatory issues, etc. 

Finally, the way of imparting flavour to the culinary product depends very much on the type of product (dry, chilled, frozen), processing parameters (heat load), shelf-life requirements (from a few weeks to 24 months), degree of convenience (home, food-service), etc. In all cases, the aim is to deliver a tasty food appreciated by the consumer at the point of purchasing and consumption. 

Base notes contribute to the intrinsic taste of culinary products. This can be achieved by using basic savoury ingredients such as meat extract, bone-stock, yeast extract, fermented soy sauce, wheat gluten sauce, vegetable powders, herbs and spices. They provide a complex mixture of taste-active and taste-modifying compounds, some of them still unknown, in a typical and balanced composition. The basic taste can be... 

Fig, 5,51 Molecules imparting or enhancing the umami-like taste in culinary products... 

Taste research has evolved considerably over the last years what will certainly result in new compounds and lead structures. The three approaches mentioned, i.e. TDA, receptor-based assays, and molecular modelling, are complementary methods (or tools) that may reveal new taste-active and taste-modifying compounds. The TDA method may especially help discovering taste modulators, because the corresponding receptors and processes are largely unknown. However, many other parameters must be checked, apart from technical taste testing, to evaluate the commercial potential of these new molecules, i.e. stability, safety, cost, availability, range of application, etc. Therefore, just a few molecules may succeed to be widely applied to culinary products. 

One of the most delicate steps in product development is to impart the characteristic flavour note. This concerns both aroma and taste. While the proper taste quality can be achieved by a careful selection of ingredients representing the base note (Fig. 5.50), delivering the typical aroma of a culinary product is in many cases a real challenge. This may be due to losses of odorants caused by high volatility and chemical reactions, thus leading to a misbalanced aroma profile, perceived as weak or even as an off-flavour that is no longer characteristic for the food product. 

Dehydrated convenience foods are powder mixes which are sometimes agglomerated in fluidised beds or extruded as wet powder masses to form granules. Frequently such powder mixes are also compacted to bouillon or seasoning tablets and cubes. Beside this, pasty and partially dehydrated culinary products are offered for seasoning applications. Table 5.25 shows different dehydrated convenience foods and their typical flavour content. 

There are some interesting types of structure or morphology, which are named after culinary products, like shish kebab structures (from schaschlik) in PE and PP or salami particles in HIPS. They are listed in Part III in Table 4. 

Beverages Confectionery Dairy, fats, oils Culinary products Oral hygiene... 

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