Expanding Superfruit Flavor Possibilities

Now that the superfruit category has established itself as a valuable player in American food, consumers are seeking a variety of products with superfruit flavors. Robertet Flavors uses a range of popular superfruits to develop its line of authentic superfruit flavors, which are natural per Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 101.22.

Robertet’s line of superfruit flavors includes açaí, blackberry, blackcurrant, blueberry, cranberry, elderberry, goji, mangosteen, pomegranate, raspberry and yumberry. These liquid, water-soluble flavors go into beverages, dairy products, nutraceuticals, syrups, ice cream and sorbet, yogurt, fruit preps, and more.

“Superfruits are ‘hot’ due to their health-and-wellness halo, so there’s a demand for natural flavors based on, or containing, them,” says Terry Peppard, Ph.D., director, science and technology.

While Peppard notes that some domestically produced superfruits—like blueberry, cranberry and pomegranate—are relatively easy to obtain, others originate from overseas and can prove difficult to source. “Robertet has developed relationships with individual fruit growers and even some fruit hobbyists,” he says. “The latter have been particularly useful in the initial evaluation of new and interesting fruits.”

Peppard cites mangosteen as a good example of a tropical superfruit that’s not readily available in the continental United States. However, the company obtained samples directly from growers and through its parent company in Grasse, France, and now sources the mangosteen juice concentrate from Thailand.

“Extracts of mangosteen were prepared, and their sensory properties validated against the original fruit,” he says. “These extracts were then analyzed using state-of-the-art instrumental techniques, such as gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography coupled with organoleptic evaluation at a sniffing port.”

Such analyses led to reconstituting the mangosteen flavor using mangosteen juice supplemented with other natural flavoring materials, including botanical extracts. Peppard notes that a number of the fruit’s trace chemical constituents were key to characterizing the mangosteen flavor. The flavoring was then adjusted by flavor chemists to better match the flavor of the original mangosteen fruit. Mangosteen has a sweet-tart, floral, citrusy flavor reminiscent of peach. It blends well with peach, as well as orange, flavors.

“Finally,” says Peppard, “the reconstituted natural mangosteen flavor WONF was evaluated in a variety of beverage applications,” such as juice drinks, carbonated beverages and flavored waters, with typical use levels ranging from 0.05% to 0.10%.

Robertet Flavors

10 Colonial DrivePiscataway, NJ08854Phone: 732/981-8300Fax: 732/981-1717E-mail: [email protected]Website: robertet.com