New Flavors Provide Low Bulk Density

Creating flavors for tea, spice blends, and nutraceutical or herbal preparations presents a unique set of challenges for flavor houses. Paramount among these is finding a way to evenly blend and maintain mix consistency with dry flavors in the low-bulk-density, leafy or flaky form these products generally require.

Dry flavors typically feature fine, heavy particles with high bulk density that do not mix well with applications featuring light, fluffy particles. The vibration typical to blending, shipping and handling can lead to uneven migration of the flavor within certain bulk and single-serve packaging, creating a final market product that fails to meet the ultimate goal of consistent, even flavoring. This shortcoming often dissuades manufacturers from using dry flavors, limiting their ability to concoct creative ideas that successfully mimic their gold-standard prototypes when the product gets to market.

Flavorcoat® from Flavor Dynamics, Inc. (FDI) is a line of dry flavors specifically designed to overcome this limitation and be compatible with light, flaky and fluffy applications.

"Flavorcoat was developed to match the size and bulk density of an array of natural products, including tea, spice blends, herbal beverages, nutraceuticals and other flaked or leafy products," explains FDI President Dolf DeRovira. "In these applications, Flavorcoat will resist segregation during packaging and shipping, yet the flavor will still readily diffuse into tea during a standard steeping time of approximately two minutes. Further, since the medium is organic, we can provide these flavors in both natural and organic-compliant forms under the USDA organic definitions."

Flavorcoat allows manufacturers of a wide variety of previously problematic, low-bulk-density product mediums to reap the rewards of using flavors—rewards that include increased batch-to-batch consistency, freedom from commodity price fluctuations and improved shelf life.

The line’s unique properties derive from its use of a natural flaked biomatrix with a bulk density that closely resembles that of tea, spice blends, and nutraceutical or herbal preparations. Flavors are incorporated into the biomatrix and then dehydrated through a proprietary process that maintains the quality of the flavor system.

"In creating this line, we wanted to be sure that we protected the quality of our customers’ products," says DeRovira. "The flavor of the biomatrix is minimized through our unique infusion and dehydration process so as not to affect the characterizing profile. This means that their final market product will impart its flavor in its truest form, ensuring that the consumer tastes exactly what the producer had in mind. The final product will be able to meet all the producer’s needs, not only in terms of taste, but also including any commitment to maintaining the integrity of organic certified products."

Flavorcoat is available in an expanding variety of flavors, including, but not limited to, Lemon, Bergamot, Vanilla, Swiss Chocolate, Pomegranate and French Apple Crumb.