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Kaiser's expeditions have encouraged Givaudan researchers to hunt for flavors around the world. Destinations include not only remote rain forests but also local restaurants in Asia. Unlike fragrances, which can have global appeal, flavors are much more grounded in geography. "To be successful, a flavor typically has to resemble something people already know," says Charles H. Manley, vice president for science and technology at Takasago International Corp. That's why Japanese confections, which usually are not very sweet, are not popular with U.S. consumers. That's also why the fish sauce widely used in Southeast Asian cuisines can smell disgusting to those unfamiliar with it. FRAGRANCE HUNTER At the Masoala Peninsula of Madagascar, Kaiser encountered gleaming white flowers of a close but little-known relative of Stephanotis floribunda at the peak of their visual and olfactory beauty. GIVAUDAN PHOTO CUISINE CHEMISTRY The headspace of regional dishes while being prepared reveals interesting flavor compositions. GIVAUDAN PHOTO IMMIGRATION AND TRAVEL have bridged lands and peoples. Indonesian restaurants are popular in Amsterdam; Indian restaurants, in London. They serve not only the Dutch or the British who have acquired the tastes of their former colonies, but also the Indonesians and Indians who have immigrated to the lands of their former colonizers but yearn for the tastes of their native homelands. Meanwhile, rising standards of living are enabling more and more consumers in developing countries to eat at restaurants and buy snacks, toothpaste, beverages, microwave dinners, and other flavored products. Givaudan's flavor-hunting trips, called TasteTrek, have yielded about 50 potential new flavor compounds, Eilerman says. One of these trips brought a Givaudan team to a market in Libreville, Gabon, where they realized that the Gabonese use tree barks as a food spice. The barks smell like onion or garlic. Headspace analysis of the aroma revealed a multitude of sulfur-containing compounds, but the characteristic odor is due mainly to only two: 2,3,5-trithiahexane and 2,4,6-trithiaheptane. "We have used chemicals identified from that bark to create some unique vegetable flavors," Eilerman says. An expedition to China led to a new flavor ingredient, captured from meals being prepared in a restaurant. According to an account of the trip, the sampling, made possible by a portable laboratory with headspace-sampling gear, attracted curious stares from restaurant customers. The flavor ingredient, now commercialized, is called Wok Aroma |
| UPDATE | 07.03 |
| COMPANY | Givaudan Flavors Corp |
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