Methods and skills of food flavoring
According to data, there are more than 1,700 kinds of spices that can be used in food in the world under GRAS, but only a few of them can be directly used in food (vanillin, ethyl vanillin, maltol, ethyl maltol) In addition, the vast majority of food spices must be blended into flavors by means of flavoring before they can be used for food flavoring.
Part I Main Contents of Perfumery Work
Perfumery is a work combining technology and art. The characteristic of perfuming work is to integrate the individual characteristics of various spices in terms of physics, chemistry, aroma and fragrance, etc., and make various spices play a greater role in the collective compatibility through proper deployment. role. The principle of fragrance is to achieve the balance of aroma.
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Job Purpose of Food Flavorist
The purpose of fragrance: to seek or pursue the "harmony" among the spices. Harmony is the motto of perfumers and the goal they strive for all their lives. Harmony is what a successful fragrance should be. This requires perfumers to master and be familiar with basic knowledge (smell, debate, evaluation) and perfuming techniques, possess extraordinary sense of smell and memory, and have rich imagination and creativity.
The specific purpose of flavoring is as follows:
1. Deploy delicious (good eating effect) essence;
2. Safety in use;
3. Suitable for flavoring: the nature of the essence is suitable for the process of flavoring products.
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The main work content of the perfumer
1. Imitation fragrance
Fragrance imitation is to use the knowledge of fragrance identification to blend a variety of spices into the desired aroma or fragrance according to the appropriate ratio.
Imitation fragrance generally has two contents: one is to imitate nature, and the other is to imitate the fragrance of some successful fragrance products and finished essences at home and abroad.
2. Create fragrance
Creativity is the use of scientific and technical methods to design and create a novel and harmonious fragrance or fragrance (or fragrance type) essence on the basis of the practice of fragrance identification and imitation.
Require:
(1) To meet the flavoring needs of a specific product;
(2) The created flavor can economically and rationally use spices;
(3) Compatible with the characteristics of flavored products.
[Ministry of Labor and Social Security of the People's Republic of China: National Occupational Standards - Perfumers (Trial), 2006]
Perfumer: A person who uses spices and accessories to design and formulate flavor formulas.
The main work content:
(1) Design fragrance formulas of various fragrance types;
(2) Select the raw materials and auxiliary materials used;
(3) Deploy flavors that meet the formula requirements;
(4) Select the appropriate flavor production technology;
(5) Evaluate the aroma of flavor products and flavored products and conduct quality control;
(6) Explore the application of new material compounds;
(7) Evaluate new spice varieties and conduct sensory and application tests;
(8) Adjust and update flavor formulas to ensure the safety of flavor products.
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Fragrance Application Technology - Requirements for Perfuming Technology
It is necessary to understand the characteristics of the flavoring product medium, its flavoring requirements, process conditions and the use of flavoring products. Different flavoring products need to be blended with different flavors, and the common requirements are:
1. The fragrance should meet the selected requirements;
2. Use requirements: different uses require different spices to formulate;
3. Quality requirements: Different grades should choose different spices to meet the cost requirements;
4. Pay attention to the composition of the essence, and correctly select the main fragrance, auxiliary fragrance, modification and fixed fragrance;
5. The aroma should be coordinated and stable: the head, middle and tail aroma requirements (that is, the head fragrance should have good diffusion power, the middle rhyme should be strong, have bones and flesh, and the tail fragrance should have a certain staying power). Note the effect on color, especially in white fragranced products;
6. Adapt to and respect natural geographical conditions and customs, and treat different people, regions, and climates separately;
7. In the prescription, attention should be paid to the possibility of chemical reactions between spices, such as transesterification, hydrolysis, oxidation, polymerization, condensation, etc., and the variety of spices should be carefully selected;
8. Safety: daily-use flavors must be safe to human skin and hair, and food flavors must comply with international and domestic regulations on safety and hygiene.
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What Perfumers Need to Know
1. Fragrance and smell, classification of fragrance;
2. Taste and taste, classification of taste;
3. Discrimination and evaluation of aroma and fragrance;
4. Types, properties and uses of flavors and fragrances;
5. Aroma characteristics of commonly used flavors and fragrances;
6. Working methods and skills of flavor blending;
7. Design and inspection of flavor formula;
8. Flavoring technology;
9. The ability of continuous learning, absorption and innovation in perfumery;
10. Knowledge of imagination, abstract expression and art.
Part II Requirements and methods for fragrance formula design
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Fragrance requirements
Including the requirements for perfumers (perfumers) and the requirements for flavors (edible).
1. Requirements for perfumers (perfumers)
To master the art of fragrance blending, one needs to have two basic skills: one is the basic knowledge of fragrance application technology (perfuming technology); the other is the skill of blending fragrance formula, that is, the ability to distinguish, imitate and create fragrance.
2. Requirements for the prepared essence
(1) The fragrance should meet the selected requirements;
(2) Use requirements: different uses require different spices to formulate;
(3) Quality requirements: Different grades should choose different spices to meet the cost requirements;
(4) Pay attention to the composition of the essence, and correctly select the main fragrance, auxiliary, modification and fixed fragrance;
(5) The aroma should be coordinated and stable: the head, middle and tail aroma requirements (that is, the head fragrance should have good diffusion power, the middle rhyme should be strong, have bones and flesh, and the tail fragrance should have a certain staying power), At the same time, pay attention to the effect on color, especially in white fragranced products;
(6) Food flavors must comply with international and domestic food standards and hygienic regulations.
2. Fragrance method
The spices used to prepare a fragrance include both synthetic and natural fragrances. To coordinate the various spices, the fragrance of the prepared fragrance should be in line with your own ideas and people's hobbies, and can be used with fragrances. The aroma of the product is harmonious and consistent, so as to achieve the required perfuming effect.
Therefore, before accepting the task, the perfumer must first clarify the purpose and requirements of the task, and understand the impact of flavoring products on the fragrance type, fragrance, use, dosage, heat resistance, solubility, price, packaging, storage conditions and Shelf life and other aspects of the requirements, and then fully consider their own work level, raw material conditions and cost estimates and so on.
The design of the fragrance formula must have certain requirements and methods, whether it is imitation fragrance or fragrance creation. Different perfumers may have different methods. Here is the "three-step method" proposed by Ye Xinnong—namely:
1. Instructions
Perfumers must understand a theme when designing formulas: flavor type, grade, scope of use, etc. (such as lemon essence for high-end beverages).
If the formula design belongs to the nature of imitation fragrance (natural product or essence sample), before starting, you must first consult the relevant analysis data of fragrance components, and you can also smell the components of the imitation object (aroma, fragrance, fragrance volatilization process) etc.), and roughly estimate the proportion of the fragrance type according to the fragrance type.
If the scent type of the object to be imitated is not clear, it is necessary to use the method of smelling to find out its aroma characteristics, aroma composition and aroma type, and judge its aroma composition and each aroma according to the aroma change during the aroma volatilization process. composition of spices. If the process is assisted by instrumental analysis, it will be more effective.
The innovation of food flavors is usually composed of several flavors with the same flavor or several different flavors. If the fragrance is lemon and white lemon, fruity fragrance + spicy fragrance = cola fragrance. Therefore, when creating a fragrance, one must first imagine the general pattern: that is, whether the target is composed of several different fragrance types with the same fragrance, or is it composed of several different fragrances, and then consider other issues and factors.
2. Determine the quality
On the premise of clarifying the style of flavor (scent type and flavor), according to the requirements of the flavor applied to the product (scope of use, use characteristics, quality grade), to formulate the types of flavors and their quality grades and solvents required in the flavor . That is to say: the quality of the essence to be designed is realized through the selection of spice varieties.
Example: Selection of strawberry essence for mid-range candy
(1) Solvent: choose according to the application
(2) Selection of spices: choose according to the aroma distribution and requirements
(3) Deployment: skills and precautions
3. To formulate
After clarifying the style of the flavor to be imitated or created and the type of flavor selected according to the use, usage, and quality level of the flavor, you can enter the specific stage of prescription work. The ultimate goal and requirement of this step of formulating is to determine which types of spices and their dosage should be used in the essence through formula experiments, and sometimes it is necessary to determine the blending process and use conditions of the essence.
Formulation is generally carried out in two stages. The first stage is to select various spices, and initially meet the original fragrance type and aroma quality requirements through the ratio test. That is to say, in terms of fragrance type and aroma, the components and fragrances in the essence can be coordinated with each other, and the persistence and stability can meet the predetermined requirements. This stage is mainly carried out with the method of smell and debate, adjusting the ratio of the sample, and obtaining the overall formula of the essence determined initially.
The second stage is to carry out the application test (that is, the aromatization test) of the flavor samples that are initially considered satisfactory in the first stage, that is, to add the essence into the flavored products according to the requirements of the aromatization process conditions to observe and evaluate the effect . This stage also includes making further modifications to the formula initially determined in the first stage, as well as determining its preparation method, dosage in the medium, flavoring conditions and related precautions. The formulation was not completed until the flavoring trials were successful.
Third. Fragrance operation method
Arrangement and storage of fragrant raw materials
1. Placement:
(1) By category: alcohols, phenols, esters, aldehydes ...
(2) Arranged alphabetically by English name;
(3) Chinese name (number of strokes, pinyin)
2. Storage: dark glass bottle; fill it up, leaving less headspace; cool and dark (some stored in the refrigerator); appropriate dilution.
Methods and requirements for blending flavor samples
1. The following items should be indicated on the formula sheet: date, spice name, dosage, place of origin, name of the person preparing the formula, name of the blender, and serial number;
2. Weigh carefully with a precise and sensitive balance, and pay attention to the expression method and writing method of the amount;
3. Generally, 10g is suitable for small samples (easy to calculate and save). If there are not many varieties of spices and the dosage is not much different, it can be appropriately reduced;
4. The solid fragrance needs to be dissolved in a solvent, and if it needs to be heated, use a water bath method;
5. Add the highly volatile spices later, add the ones with a large amount and weak aroma in stages, and add the ones with a small amount drop by drop, and smell it before each drop (to see if it has deteriorated);
6. After each (drop) is added, it must be mixed and then sniffed;
7. Each small sample needs to be saved, and each record and data must be accurate and truthful;
8. Make a large sample (100g) according to the finalized formula before production, and compare it with the approved small sample;
9. The determination of the flavor formula requires cost estimation to see if it meets the requirements of the entrusting unit or the market:
10. The utensils used must be clean and odorless.