Flavorings
Flavor is an important attribute of a food. It is a sensory
response that has three components, olfactory (odor/smell),
gustatory (taste), and tactual (mouthfeel). Ice cream is cold,
creamy, refreshing, and sweet and releases aroma upon melting
in the mouth. When the word ‘flavor’ is used in everyday
parlance, we imply taste and olfaction. Taste compounds are
sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. Generally, compounds imparting
these tastes can be detected at levels of 0.01–0.5. Olfactory
compounds (smelly stuff) are volatile and have thresholds in
the parts per million to parts per trillion range. Threshold is
defined as the minimum concentration that at least 50% of the
population can detect. Threshold of aroma compounds are
10–10 million times less than taste compounds.
Perception of aroma is affected by the composition, physical
structure, and temperature of the food. Undesirable flavors
are called off-flavors. Off-flavors affect the overall flavor qualities
of the food. Deteriorative reactions are time-dependent
and cumulative. Therefore, the length and conditions of storage
have a profound influence on the perception of overall flavor.
These deteriorative reactions occur in ingredients used in ice
cream manufacture. Therefore, careful attention should be paid
to the quality of ingredients used in ice cream manufacture.