Liquid Flavours

Liquid flavours can be divided into low-viscous liquids, medium-viscous liquids, emulsions, pastes and suspensions. The main processing of liquid flavour production is basically liquid blending. The most popular carriers for flavours for aqueous systems are ethanol, propylene glycol or glycerol. For fat-soluble flavours, triacetin or vegetable oils are the most important carriers. 

Long process times are required when single raw materials, compounds or natural extracts exhibit high viscosity. In general, in the flavour industry two approaches are used to reduce viscosity  

dilution of the highly viscous extract with a solvent 

The disadvantage of the dilution of extracts is that the flavour concentration is lower and the flavour dose has to be increased. Significant heat treatment can influence the flavour stability in a negative way because oxidation and Maillard reactions are enhanced and the flavour might be less stable. Owing to the fact that flavours are mainly complex mixtures, their rheological properties, particularly in presence of hydrocolloids, fibres or other macromolecules, are often not Newtonian. This can cause problems in the production process. In order to simplify 

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No juice With flavours Low flavoured Liquid flavour... 

The formula of a liquid flavouring usually comprises the list of ingredients and a short summary of the corresponding blending instructions. At this stage the solubility of the ingredients in the carrier system is of high importance. Additional criteria can be summarised under the headline of shelf-life stability. 

One of the oldest production methods for the production of dry flavours is the plating of a liquid flavour or extract onto a solid carrier. Carriers of main importance for the food industry are salt, lactose, starch and maltodextrin [64]. 

The most common method to simultaneously dry and encapsulate flavours is the spray-drying technique (Fig. 21.11). For this technology, carrier materials like maltodextrin, starch and gum arabic are dissolved in water. As a next step, the liquid flavour raw material is emulsified in this slurry. Also non-volatile flavour components can be added. The slurry is atomised and dried in a spraydrying facility. 

Spray drying is recognised as an efficient method of converting liquid flavours into powders. By spray drying it is possible to produce a powder with controlled physical properties such as flowability, residual moisture content and bulk density. At the same time it is possible to control the properties of the active flavour component in terms of its controlled release, its organoleptic quality etc. 

The solids content of these preparations is important. It may range from 25 to 50%. The residual moisture in the spray dried powder is typically 3-5% and the content of the original liquid flavour is about 20%. The drying temperatures generally vary between 200 and 280°C at air entrance and 90-120°C at air exit. 

A company selling high-impact liquid flavours is Stringer Flavours Limited, based in Tring, Hertfordshire, UK. Their website is www.sttinger flay... 

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