When Joan called me to see if I would be interested in writing for the newsletter about botanical extracts, I thought it was a good idea. Then I had to figure out what to write about. Botanical extracts are either the trendiest thing you can think of or the most traditional thing there is depending on your point of view. So, there are a couple of ways I could go here, but I think that we ought to start with the way botanicals can be used in making more interesting and complex flavors since we're all Flavor Chemists here.

Most of us have used some kind of botanical extract for flavoring before we even knew there was an industry that made flavors. After all, most people have a bottle of vanilla extract in their kitchen cabinet or know someone who does. Lots of people who aren't trained as flavor chemists can tell the difference between the natural vanilla extracts and the artificial ones, too. And right there is the point of using botanical extracts in your flavors instead of using just the chemical components that might characterize those extracts or flavors.

When I started my training as a flavorist, there were not as many natural chemicals available as there are now. And while having more of the chemicals become available in increasingly pure forms improved our ability to create realistic flavors, the complexity of a flavor is what helps make it more heat or shelf stable.

Different extraction processes give you different profiles of the same botanical or spice. If that does not sound like it makes sense to you, then go into your laboratory and taste the oil and an oleoresin or tincture of the same item. So, if one form of a botanical or spice extract is not quite right in your flavor, you may want to try a different form if it is available.

There are different flavor profile groups found in botanical extracts. If you consider Quassia, Cinchona Bark and Gentian Root are all bitter but taste different from each other. Damiana leaves and alfalfa give body to fruit flavors and add freshness and greenness to them. All of the barks have their own woody notes, but Mountain Maple Bark and Wild Cherry Bark have a warmth and sweetness that make them useful in cooked fruit or caramelized flavors. Oak chips have an astringency that could fit in a nut flavor. Yerba Santa is herbaceous and reduces bitterness or you could use St. John's Bread to smooth out a flavor or enhance the vanilla or chocolate notes of a product.

Think about what you would use to make a berry flavor. You can obtain ketones and ionones to make it a specific berry, and you can add green notes like Cis-3-Hexenol to make it fresh tasting and more realistic. But have you tried a botanical extract in it? Maybe try a woody note to make it seedy or a bitter note to help make it fresh. Something sweet could make it taste more cooked or round it out and give it body.

There are an amazing number of roots, barks, leaves and berries that are already approved for food and flavor use. How many of them have you tasted and used?