Flavours toffee

When I lift my gimlet for that first taste, and admire its color—a pale crystal green, like a legendary jewel—I m reminded of Lewis Carroll s Alice and her healthy sense of adventure. When confronted with a bottle with a label that instructed her to down it, she did Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast), she very soon finished it off. ... 

Milk solids are normally used as either milk powder or sweetened condensed milk in food manufacturing. Skim milk solids are an essential part of toffees as well as contributing useful colour and Maillard reaction flavours to baked goods. 

Lipolytic rancidity is normally enzymatic, the enzymes responsible usually coming from bacteria or moulds. The effect of lipolytic rancidity is that the level of free fatty acid rises. The effect of this on the product depends very much upon the nature of the free fatty acid liberated. Low levels of free butyric acid from milk fat tend to enhance a toffee by giving it a more buttery flavour, whereas lipolysis of a lauric fat such as HPKO gives free lauric acid, which is an ingredient of, and tastes of, soap. This effect is very unpleasant. 

Lipase splits fatty acids from glycerol to produce free fatty acids, for example, butyric acid. If the original fat is butterfat then at low levels this produces a buttery or creamy flavour. As the free fatty acid content is increased, this strengthens the flavour to cheesy . Normally in toffees free butyric acid is not a problem at any practical level, possibly because of losses during cooking. Other free fatty acids have different flavours. Laurie acid, which is found in nuts, tastes of soap. This is not too surprising as soap often contains sodium laurate. Laurie fat sources, such as hardened palm kernel oil, are often used as a substitute for butter another potential source is nuts, which are sometimes combined with toffee. In any of these cases, lipolytic activity can shorten the shelf life of the product or render it totally unacceptable. 

Another type of butter is whey butter, and this is produced from cream that has been skimmed off the whey after cheese-making. As the cream in whey butter has been subjected to the controlled lactic fermentation used in the cheese-making, whey butter has a characteristic and stronger flavour than other butters. This does not present any particular problems as any type of butter can be used to make toffee. 

Whey is the by-product of cheese-making. The traditional form of whey in confectionery is whey powder, which has been used as an ingredient in some toffees. Apart from this example, whey has not been much used in sugar confectionery. The reasons for this are hard to see, except that in toffees the flavours imparted by whey are not that pleasant. As the major ingredient is lactose this places another restriction on its use - lactose has its limited solubility compared with other sugars, when used to excess it imparts the unpleasant metallic taste, and it is not tolerated in the diets of certain consumers. 

Last but not least, it must be mentioned that sodium chloride (often referred to as the poor man s flavour enhancer ) has a flavour enhancing effect at usage levels below and above its taste threshold (370 to 5000 ppm). Without salt, many foods (both sweet and savoury) have a flat taste. Salt may enhance sweemess and mouthfeel and decrease bitter, sour and metallic sensations [4, 32]. Even in sweet foods such as cakes, candies and toffees, salt has its place. However, its presence is most critical for... 

Caramels and toffees contain basic ingredients like saccharose, corn syrup and fat. Milk (mostly condensed milk), gelatine, fondant mass, emulsifier, sorbitol, flavouring, fruit pulp, cocoa, coffee etc. are additional ingredients. Caramels compared to high boilings have higher water content (4-8%) which results in a plastic consistency in the mouth. 

Fruit is used in ice cream products, either as fruit pieces, or as a sauce. Fruit pieces add novelty to ice cream products and enhance the perception of healthiness. Sauces, often fruit, but also chocolate and toffee, are widely used as toppings on cone and cup products or as ripples in ice cream. They provide flavour and texture contrast as well as an attractive product appearance. A wide range of fruits is used in ice cream products, from common European fruits such as strawberry and apple, to tropical fruits such as mango and banana. 

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