What we find in the aisles of supermarkets ‘with taste, taste, aroma’ While such expressions may make us think that the product is made from the food it depicts, we have bad news for you. It’s just an artificial flavoring used in those foods.

If we delve into the chemistry of matter, while everything is so developed, “artificial flavors Why can’t it mimic real fruit flavors?” One cannot help but think. The answer to this question lies in a complex chemical world!

Why can’t artificial flavors taste completely like real fruit?

This is because the flavors produced, especially with old methods, cannot fully reproduce the taste and smell of real fruit. For example, artificial banana flavor tastes stranger than regular banana flavor. This is because this flavor is actually Gros Michel, that tastes like artificial bananas This is because it belongs to an ancient variety of banana called. When this breed succumbed to the fungal disease, it was replaced by the Cavendish breed.

If you thought it was that simple, you were wrong. Because flavor manufacturers actually They did not try to imitate this particular essence. The reason artificial banana flavor is bad is the same reason strawberry gum or watermelon flavored juice doesn’t taste like real fruit: chemistry.

Professor of nutrition at Rutgers University Paul Breslin, “When you tasted strawberry gum in the ’70s, you saw the artificial strawberry flavor. It was weird; you knew what you expected, but you felt something was missing. They couldn’t quite get it right.” say. According to Breslin, this was due to the assumptions that flavor manufacturers accepted at the time.

When creating strawberry flavor, chemists started by crushing real strawberries and then analyzed the puree to look for chemicals released into the air.

At the time, everyone thought that the most abundant volatile molecules were the most important. While this is true in a sense, Breslin says it is forgotten that small amounts of components can also be important. Instead of crushing 400 strawberries to get a strawberry scent The same conclusion can be reached by using 20-30. But in the 1970s, only a few berries were used for this purpose.

A few chemical components are enough to understand the aroma. When you eat something strawberry, sometimes you taste real strawberries. All it takes is to find a molecule that captures the essence of the aroma and provides a direct connection to the aroma. Of course, these alone are not enough to capture the real fruit aroma.

Flavorings do not use the most common and volatile chemicals; It is also developed by considering more components.

According to Breslin, some fruits, especially those with seeds and berries, contain associated with an unpleasant odor when smelled alone There are certain chemicals. The presence of these chemicals affects the overall aroma of the fruit and determines our taste perception.

For example a chemical found in fruits such as raspberries, It is not pleasant if you smell it alone, but without this chemical it is not possible to create the characteristic smell of the fruit. Therefore, some fruit flavors require individual molecules to be analyzed and isolated, which has become possible with modern technology.

The cherry flavor may also resemble maraschino instead of real cherries. grape aroma It generally resembles concord grapes more than fresh grapes. The development of these flavors goes back to the end of the 19th century. This means that any desired flavor is possible, albeit with minor differences.

New standards for market labels have been introduced in our country in this area.

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry According to the decision taken, misleading phrases such as ‘banana flavour’ and ‘strawberry flavour’ that we see on the shelves will no longer be used, because they play on customer perception. It was announced that criminal action would be taken against companies that continued to use it. The decision is expected to be published in the Government Gazette and implemented as soon as possible.

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