Flavor of food

Multiple senses, including taste, contribute to our total perception of food. Our perception of the flavor of food is a complex experience based upon multiple senses taste per se, which includes sweet, sour, salty and bitter olfaction, which includes aromas touch, also termed mouth feel , that is, texture and fat content and thermoreception and nociception caused by pungent spices and irritants. Taste proper is commonly divided into four categories of primary stimuli sweet, sour, salty and bitter. One other primary taste quality, termed umami (the taste of L-glutamate), is still somewhat controversial. Mixtures of these primaries can mimic the tastes of more complex foods. 

Rapp, A., Hastrich, H., Engel, L., Knipser, W. Flavor of Foods and Beverages, Academic Press, London 1978... 

Saleeb F., ckup J. In Flavor of Foods and Beverages Inglett G., Charalambous G., Eds, Academic Press New York, 1978, pp. Ill... 

Uses. The main application of vanillin is the flavoring of foods (e.g., ice cream, chocolate, bakery products, and confectioneries). Small quantities are used in perfumery to round and fix sweet, balsamic fragrances. Vanillin is also used as a brightener in galvanotechnical processes and is an important intermediate in, for example, the production of pharmaceuticals such as L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) and methyldopa. 

Eucalyptus oils with a high cineole content are used for cineole production. The oils and cineole itself are used primarily in pharmaceutical preparations. Fairly large quantities are also used in perfumery, e.g., to imitate the odor of cineole-containing essential oils and flavoring of food (sweets) and oral care products. FCT 1975 (13) p. 107 [8000-48-4], [84625-32-1]. 

Many oxygen sensitive products, including food products, electronic components, pharmaceuticals, and medical products, deteriorate in the presence of oxygen. Both the color and the flavor of foods can be adversely affected. The oxidation of lipids within the food product can result in the development of rancidity. These products benefit from the use of oxygen scavengers in their packaging (67). 

Several of the pyran-4-ones found in nature are acidic by virtue of carboxylic acid or hydroxyl groups. Chelidonic (346), meconic (347), comenic (348) and pyromeconic (349) acids and maltol (350) are of plant origin but kojic acid (351) is produced by microorganisms, for example Aspergillus oryzae. Several compounds of this type are used to enhance the flavor of foods. The pyran-4-ones are more basic than their isomeric pyran-2-ones and this results in the formation of more stable salts with acids such as perchloric acid. 

The 5 -Nucleotides. Also dating back many years in the Far East was the knowledge that bonita tuna possesses a substance that very effectively enhances the flavor of foods. However, it was not until 1913 dial S. Kodama (Tokyo University) commenced a serious investigation directed toward identifying and isolating the substance from tuna. Initially. Kodama believed that the substance was the histidine salt of 5 -inosinic acid, but later found that the substance was actually 5 -inosinic acid itself. This nucleotide was found to be many more times as effective as MSG. Further research by Kodama and others has shown that these nucleotides are present in many natural foods. 

Some pyrrole derivatives have pleasant flavor. For example, pyrrole-2-carboxaldehyde gives a sweet and corn-like odor and 2-acetylpyrrole has caramel-like flavor. However, some pyrroles have been found to contribute to off-flavor of food products (24). Pyrroles have not received as much attention as flavor components as other heterocyclic Maillard reaction products such as pyrazines and thiazoles even though the number of derivatives identified is almost the same as that of pyrazines (Figure 1). Proposed formation mechanisms of pyrroles in the Maillard reaction systems are similar to those of thiophenes (Figures 2). 

The importance of Maillard reaction products to the flavor of foods has received considerable attention. One group of Maillard products, the alkylpyrazines, are thought to contribute roasted, toasted and nutty flavor notes to a variety of foods. Several reviews have detailed the presence of pyrazines in a wide variety of foods (1-7). Considerable work has previously focused on mechanisms of formation and the effects of various parameters on pyrazine formation (8-17). Part one of this study reported on the effects of type of amino acid and type of sugar on the kinetics and distribution pattern of pyrazines formed (18). The current study investigates the effect of pH and water activity on the kinetics of alkylpyrazines formation. 

Spices are well-known and popular additives to food, which improve the taste and flavor of food products. They are most often aromatic parts of plants (roots, leaves,... 

Although it is common to assert that there are only four distinct taste sensations, even a casual introspection reveals that other oral sensations can be distinguished. As one may expect, flavor chemists have discovered that many separate oral sensations are required to reconstruct the flavors of foods and beverages. Some of these sensations have distinct oral loci from which they are elicited by specified types of chemical compounds, thus indicating that different neural systems are involved. Many of these sensations are difficult to typify verbally and also often have affective overtones. These sensations are the result of considerable peripheral and central neural processing and are only indirectly related to the peripheral neural pulse signals as discussed above. The type of sensation elicited and the locus of elicitation provide us with further measures of the functional properties of oral chemoreceptor systems. 

The characteristic taste of monosodium glutamate and 5 -ribo-nucleotides is called "umami" in Japanese. It plays a predominant role in the flavor of foods, such as meats, poultry, fish and other sea foods, dairy products, or vegetables. The taste was first discovered by Ikeda (1908)(1), and has been studied by a large number of researchers from different points of view (refer to, e.g. 2 -9). ... 

MSG enhances the specific flavor of food, e.g. meatiness of soups. 

B-78MI43303 I. Flament, B. Willhalm and G. Ohloff in Flavor of Foods and Beverages , ed. 

Lipid-derived volatile compounds play an important role in the flavor of foods. These compounds contribute to the characteristic notes of many dairy flavors, but are also responsible for many off-flavors. Parliament and McGorrin (2000) reviewed those volatile compounds important in milk, cream, butter, cultured creams and cheese. The pathways involved in the degradation of milk fat have also been reviewed by McSweeney and Sousa (2000) and compounds include FFAs, methyl ketones, lactones, esters, aldehydes, primary and secondary alcohols, hydroxyacids, hydroperoxides and ketoacids. 

Source From J. Solms, Nonvolatile Compounds and the Flavor of Foods, in Gustation and Olfaction, G. Ohloff and A.F. Thomas, eds., 1971, Academic Press. 

A number of compounds have the ability to enhance or improve the flavor of foods. It has often been suggested that these compounds do not have a particular taste of their own. Evidence now suggests that there is a basic taste response to amino acids, especially glutamic acid. This taste is sometimes described by the word umami, derived from the Japanese for deliciousness (Kawamura and Kare 1987). It is suggested that a primary taste has the following characteristics ... 

Shibamoto, T. In Contribution of Low- and Non-Volatile Materials to the Flavor of Foods, Pickenhagen, W., Ed. Allured Publishing Corporation, Carol Stream, 1996, pp 183-192. 

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