A member of the Irish-based food ingredients company Carbery Group, Synergy works with customers worldwide to develop flavour solutions for diverse food and beverage categories. As part of Synergy’s Paired to Perfection portfolio, the new flavour concepts use the company’s expertise to pinpoint and mask notes while enhancing desirable flavour compounds.
Although consumer data suggest that unflavoured greens are the most popular, more than 20% of products declare a flavouring on the packaging, “indicating either the presence of a specialist taste modulation ingredient, or a generic or unspecified ‘original’ flavour”, the firm said.
Chris Whiting, European category development manager at Synergy Flavours, told NutraIngredients that because greens powders often include vegetables such as broccoli and kale, there are common off-notes, including green, grassy, or earthy notes.
“In addition to flavour challenges, taste, texture and mouthfeel can be undesirable, with bitterness and astringency (drying) being most problematic,” he said.
However, adding flavourings can compete with the underlying undesirable base notes, sometimes exacerbating them or subduing the added flavourings, he explained.
Whiting told NutraIngredients that Synergy’s initial step in its Paired to Perfection approach is to identify the specific challenges of a greens blend and mask its undesirable attributes to achieve a more neutral, balanced base.
“As a second step, detailed analytical techniques including Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Gas chromatography-Olfactometry (GC-O) are used to investigate the specific aroma profile of the greens product at molecular level, in order to identify flavours that complement this specific product,” he said.
“Using both masking and complementary flavour pairing techniques, we are then able to develop effective, palatable, and taste-balanced solutions for different greens blends,” he added.
The new range of flavours from Synergy includes lime and mint, peach tea, ginger tea, watermelon, and tropical. There is also an original option which uses the flavour pairing technology to enhance the product’s inherent fruit notes without being too distinctive.
Greens powder supplements are a category experiencing exponential global growth. The European greens powder market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.7% from 2023 to 2030, reflecting consumer trends towards clean-label health and wellness products.
“In light of this ‘cleaner’ reputation, consumers purchasing greens products often expect a fresh and ‘original’ flavour, as opposed to other nutrition products which sometimes feature ‘fantasy’ or ‘confectionery’ style flavours,” Whiting said.
“Synergy’s approach of gaining a detailed understanding of the product chemistry enables the development of solutions that maintain the original flavour of the greens blend while harmonising and balancing the end-taste – to offer palatability with authenticity.”
