Leading U.S.-based flavor and fragrance company, Arylessence, Inc., has announced innovative flavor concepts that appeal to the American consumer's desire for more exotic flavors and tastes in a variety of products from candy, gum, lip balm, and popcorn to flavored water, coffee, wine and liquors, and teas.
The new flavor concepts combine hot spices, such as habanero and chipotle, with fresh, succulent fruits, such as mango and guava, in ways that allow the consumer to enjoy different taste sensations within a single flavor.
"Consumers today love exotic flavors, and the more exotic the better," says Arylessence President Steve Tanner. "Our flavorists have added a new dimension by combining exotic, spicy tastes with fresh, tropical fruits for flavor experiences that are both hot and cool, and at the same time, highly enjoyable and totally unexpected."
Selecting high-profile 'hot' spices, such as habanero, one of the world's hottest chili peppers; chamoyada, the salsa chili; and chipotle, the smoke-dried jalapeno, flavorists then partner the spices with 'cool' tropical fruits, including pineapple, mango, guava, and chicha morada, the succulent nectar native to the Peruvian Andes.
"For the consumer, the flavor experience happens in stages," says Scott Zimmermann, Arylessence Director of Flavor Research and Development. "First, the taste is cool and refreshing, then, as the flavor is savored over time, the spices slowly assert themselves, creating excitement and a very pleasant, very enjoyable sense of surprise."
Focusing on the relationships, synergy, and interplay between hot and cool tastes, other partnerings include cayenne pepper and coconut, jalapeno and lime, and chili and mango. In addition, warm, baking spices such as cinnamon are combined with horchata -- the almond, sesame, and rice milk native to Suriname -- and cooked Caribbean plantains.
Developed for diverse confections and beverages, including hard candy and flavored water, the new flavor concepts also have applications in sauces, toppings, and dips for consumer foods and restaurant menu items, including chicken, fish, pork, and global selections.
