The Science of Taste: How Chemicals are Used to Create Sensory Sensations

When you eat a strawberry-flavored treat, the odds are that there's no strawberry actually in the product. The same goes for any chocolate-flavored or scented products that aren't actually made of, well, chocolate. Instead, a host of chemicals are combined together to create a unique flavor experience. Now, we're taking a closer look at the science of taste.

Humans have the ability to taste sweet, bitter, sour, salty and umami, which is a word for a pleasant savory taste. Have the right combination of flavors is important for making something that people want to eat again and again.

Babies are born preferring sweet things, which makes sense evolutionarily. Human breast milk contains lactose, which is a sugar. In addition, babies have an aversion to bitter foods; evolutionarily, this prevents children from ingesting toxins that plants evolved to keep from being eaten. Obviously, sense of taste changes over time, and sense of taste isn't all that taste is about. It's also about a person's sense of smell.

The science of creating flavors, therefore, is big business. Businesses attempt to create products that either improve on the "original," or create a unique flavor that consumers love. And the backbone behind this type of science is the flavor chemist.

There are all sorts of flavor chemists. There are some that focus on extracting essences, oils and other flavor components from plants, fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs and meat products. And then there are some that focus on identifying key aroma components of those extracts. This is more complicated than you might expect; scientists, for example, have identified as many as 250 volatile aroma chemicals in natural peppermint oil.

Flavor chemists use a variety of compounds to create their formulas. In fact, a typical lab can use 2,000 chemicals and 500 natural flavors, taking anywhere from 70 to 80 tries to get a flavor just right. And some formulas require hundreds of different notes. These compounds that are used can include metabolites like acids, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, esters, sulfur compounds, furans, phenols, terpenes, spoxides and lactones. As an example, methoxyfuraneol is used to simulate strawberries.

Of course, the complexity of the process is all for one aim: to make the product taste good. Making something taste good to the general public is the key, and if it makes them come back again and again for the same product, all the better.

Next time you take taste your gummy vitamins, unwrap that granola bar or chomp into that pastry, remember that the flavors you taste are all because of food science.

Related Stories

Food Advertising and Unhealthy Choices: How Do These Influence Your Child's Eating Habits?

Calorie Consumption Determined by Size of Your Dining Table, Study Reveals

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).