| How Do Beverages Get Their Flavor? |
| Written by David Marcheschi |
| Thursday, 10 September 2009 15:34 |
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Syrups which are a common product amongst restaurants, convenience stores, and beverage bottlers are diluted to complete a beverage product. Syrups are basically a combination of water, sweeteners, acidulates and, most importantly, flavor (juices, vitamins and minerals are sometimes added as needed). Now lets see what exactly gives our beverages their distinct taste and wonderful flavor.
Syrups which are a common product amongst restaurants, convenience stores, and beverage bottlers are diluted to complete a beverage product. Syrups are basically a combination of water, sweeteners, acidulates and, most importantly, flavor (juices, vitamins and minerals are sometimes added as needed). Now lets see what exactly gives our beverages their distinct taste and wonderful flavor. Emulsion or Extract, Whats the Difference? Extracts and emulsions are both flavor in different forms. They both undergo a process which generally intends to resolve the problem of mixing the oils taken from plants or chemicals and transfer that flavor into water (which do not mix well together) but is needed to make a liquid beverage. For example lets use a lemon for demonstration purposes. Take a lemon peel and as you squeeze it tiny droplets of oil will come out of the lemon peels surface. The tiny droplets are actually oils that contain a very concentrated amount of lemon flavor. If you take this tine droplet and mixed it into water the water will have a very distinct lemony taste. But as started since oil and water dont mix and we need to find a way to disperse this flavor. The end product of these dispersions are called extracts or emulsions. Extracts are solutions that are made by combining the flavoring oil with a 50% ethyl alcohol solution. Ethyl alcohol is the preferred solvent for solubilizing flavoring oils. After the flavoring oil is combined with the 50% ethyl alcohol solution, the mixture is left to settle for a period of time, generally about a week. As the mixture sits, the soluble parts begin to separate from the insoluble parts. Once the solution has separated, the insoluble parts are filtered out, leaving the finished flavoring extract. Extracts are very stable and have a very long shelf life. Extracts also have the characteristic of being crystal clear. Emulsions on the other hand employ a different process in making dispersible flavor. With the use of homogenization, emulsions are created by forcing the flavoring oils to dissolve onto an emulsifying agent, usually vegetable gum. An emulsion becomes a suspension of oil on a water soluble medium which helps to minimize the separation that naturally happens when oil and water are combined. Emulsions unlike clear extracts are rather cloudy in appearance and weigh a bit more. Generally emulsions have shorter shelf life than its clear counterpart. Which Dispersion is the Better Choice? So now that you know the difference between emulsions and extracts which one should you use? The one factor you need to consider when deciding is your beverages appearance. For clear beverages like lime soda, an extract should be the choice. If you are making a cola then the emulsion is the appropriate dispersion. Regardless if its clear or cloudy, emulsions and extracts are the foundation of syrups and are essential in producing excellent tasting beverages. About the Author: Imbibe is a leading developer of great tasting private label beverages. Please visit http://www.imbibeinc.com to learn more about who Imbibes. |