Food Marketing & Technology - India June 2019 | Page 28

Ingredient
and cocoa; confectionery and bakery
inclusions; fruits and fruit extracts;
nuts; spices; and liqueurs.
Vanilla: Vanilla is the most popular
flavour and accounts for 30 percent
of the ice cream consumed. It comes
from a plant belonging to the orchid
family called Vanilla planifolia. There
are several varieties of vanilla beans
among which are Bourbon, Tahitian,
and Mexican. The Bourbon beans are
used to produce the best quality vanilla
extracts. This flavouring material is
usually obtained in extract form, but
also available in concentrates and
pastes, powdered vanilla and sugar
preparations. True vanilla extracts are
usually prepared by the extraction of
finely cut vanilla beans in a solution
containing not less than 35 percent
alcohol. Vanillin is the principal
flavouring essential in vanilla.
Chocolate and Cocoa: Chocolate
and cocoa are obtained from the
The source of natural
fl avours is plant or animal
material. However, these
natural fl avours are
highly processed complex
mixtures created by
trained food chemists natural flavours in frozen desserts.
Cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg are
often used to enhance or modify the
flavour of chocolate products. Spices
may be added in ice cream mix either
in the finely ground dry form or as
extracts.
These flavours are very
strong therefore, only a small quantity
of these flavours is needed to produce
the desired flavour.
cacao bean (Theobroma cacao). Four
principal types of cocoa bean are:
Forastero; Criollo; Nacional; and
Trinitario. Forastero cocoas are dark
brown, strongly flavoured, slightly
bitter and comparatively high in fat
content. Fermentation and roasting
are key elements that govern chocolate
flavour. The desirable flavour notes
of cocoa products are e.g. cocoa,
bitter, rich, bouquet, sour, astringent
and acrid. Chocolate products used
in flavouring ice cream are natural
or alkalized cocoa, chocolate liquor,
blends of cocoa and chocolate liquor
or chocolate syrups. The amount of
chocolate flavouring to be used in
ice cream depends upon the desired
length of flavour and colour. Vegetable
Flavours:
Vegetable
flavours like carrot, pumpkin, sweet
potato, taro, corn, beet puree, tomato,
cucumber and red cabbage are all
being used in various formats in ice
cream desserts.
Fruits: Fresh fruit and fresh frozen
fruit are the most desirable flavouring
materials. The aged fruit-sugar
mixture used to produce good results
with many ice creams and the ration
of fruit-sugar may vary from 2:1 to
as high as 9:1. Fruits (Apple, banana,
blackberry, blueberry, cherry, grape,
peach, pineapple, plum, raspberry,
strawberry, lemon, orange etc) may
be used whole, sliced, crushed, diced,
pureed (coarse, medium or fine) or as
juice and is usually added at about 15-
25 percent by weight in the mix. While
fresh fruit can taste fantastic in an ice
cream concoction, extracts can give the
ice cream an added flavour boost.
Spices: Spices like cracked black
pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg,
all spice, cardamom, ginger and
sesame can all be used sparingly as
Food Marketing & Technology
28
June 2019
Liquor Flavours: Liquor flavours
such as: coffee; hazelnut; Irish cream;
almond or orange liquor can all be
used in various ice creams. However,
a combination of the liquor itself along
with natural or artificial flavours is
most often used.
Should We Consume
Natural Flavours?
The source of natural flavours is plant
or animal material. However, these
natural flavours are highly processed
complex mixtures created by trained
food chemists. They may contain
many chemical additives. In other
words, natural flavours aren’t much
different than artificial flavours in
terms of chemical composition and
health effects. Studies have proved
that when “natural” appears on food
packaging, consumers usually tend
to form positive opinions about the
product, considering the food being
‘healthy’. But from a health and safety
standpoint, we should avoid foods
with natural or artificial flavours by
choosing fresh, whole foods whenever
possible.
* Assistant Professor, Department of Dairy
Chemistry, College of Dairy Science and
Technology, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary
and
Animal
Sciences
University,
Ludhiana, 141 004, Punjab