_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Innovation
Building better flavor into plant-based foods The demand for meat-free convenience foods is also pushing manufacturers to develop everyday meals around plant-based proteins instead.
Replacing meat with plant-based proteins can make it hard to create the rich, savory characteristics that meat would usually deliver in familiar meals. Plant-based proteins also lack the juiciness and umami that help make traditional meals feel satisfying plus they can sometimes introduce bitter or beany off-notes.
Manufacturers therefore need to consider how they can introduce meaty notes to replicate the savory umami taste that consumers associate with meat dishes while masking any undesirable off-notes and building depth and complexity to drive consumer satisfaction.
Yeast-based ingredients provide a solution to taste and health Naturally rich in glutamic acid and nucleotides, yeast-based ingredients provide umami and savory flavors that can help enhance the overall taste profile of a product. They can bring out and balance existing flavors, while also helping to round out flavor combinations.
This can be particularly useful when reducing sodium by:
■ Delivering upfront salinity to enhance saltiness perception and balance savory flavors, helping maintain the overall taste experience whilst reducing the need for salt.
■ Bringing out existing natural flavors and modulating tastes to develop richness in better-for-you products.
■ Masking off-notes from sodium chloride replacements such as potassium chloride.
They are equally valuable in plant-based dishes, for:
■ Helping to deliver the savory character and roasted notes of authentic meaty flavors.
■ Giving products that juicy, fatty mouthfeel of meat, which can be so hard to replicate in plant-based meals.
■ The natural umami flavor will also serve to mask any off-notes introduced by the plant protein.
“ Consumers shouldn’ t have to choose between food that’ s good for them and food that tastes nice,” says Daria Pashkova, Marketing Manager at Ohly.“ As consumers become more interested in the nutritional content of meals, manufacturers have an opportunity to rethink what better-for-you really means.
“ Ready meals, in particular, need to offer more than convenience. They need to be something consumers eat for enjoyment or indulgence, with the flavors, depth and complexity they would expect in a meal prepared from scratch.
“ Ultimately, manufacturers need to bring together nutrition, convenience, and enjoyment. Flavor innovation will be essential to this: making healthier choices just as appealing as the familiar meals consumers already know and love.” ■
Daria Pashkova www. ohly. com / en
Ohly is a world-leading provider of specialty yeastbased ingredients for the food, health, animal health, and bionutrients industries. Ohly develops natural ingredients that deliver flavour for maximum food taste experiences, offering in-depth application knowledge and data to support customers’ recipe or process development.
foodchainmagazine. com 17