Ingredients added to food to provide all or a part of the flavor. Spices are pungent or aromatic substances of vegetable origin used in foods at levels that yield no significant nutritive value. Ravor is the perception of those characteristics of a substance taken orally that affect the senses of taste and olfaction. The term flavoring refers to a substance which may be a single chemical species or a blend of natural or synthetic chemicals whose primary purpose is to provide all or part of the particular flavor effect to any food or other product taken orally. Flavorings are categorized by source: animal, vegetable, mineral, and synthetic. See also Olfaction.
Other than by source, flavorings can be divided into two groups; one group affects primarily the sense of taste, and the other affects primarily the sense of olfaction. The members of the first group are called seasonings, the members of the second group are called flavors. The same terms can be used to divide flavorings in another way. The term flavors can be applied to those products which provide a characterizing flavor to a food or beverage. The term seasoning can then be applied to those products which modify or enhance the flavor of a food or beverage—spices added to meats, blends added to potato chips, lemon added to apple pie.
In the United States most flavorings are processed. Therefore another classification is by method of manufacture. Chemicals are produced by chemical synthesis or physical isolation and include such substances as vanillin, salt, monosodium glutamate, citric acid, and menthol. Concentrates are powders manufactured by dehydrating vegetables, such as onions and garlic, or concentrated fruit juices. Condiments are single ingredients or blends of flavorful foods, spices, and seasonings, some of which may have been derived by fermentation, enzyme action, roasting, or heating. They are usually designed to be added to prepared food at the table (for example, chutney, vinegar, soy sauce, prepared mustard). Other manufactured flavorings include essential oils, hydrolyzed plant proteins, process flavors, and compounded or blended flavorings. See also Essential oils.
Spices are natural substances that have been dehydrated and consist of whole or ground aromatic and pungent parts of plants, for example, anise, cinnamon, dill, nutmeg, and pepper. Such spices are also classified as herbs if grown in temperate climates.
Extracts are natural substances produced by extraction from solutions of the sapid constituents of spices and other botanicals in food-grade solvents. They are also available as synthetics.
