2023 September

From fast food to condiments and cocktails, sweet heat is showing up everywhere.

One of the pre-eminent perfumers of our times has specific ideas on how to conceptualize note. In order to understand how perfumers and artists work it's useful to compare their opus with musical techniques. After all perfume makers reference music all the time themselves, we talk about "notes" and "chords" and compare complex fragrances to sonatas and symphonies. The so called idé

A fast and reliable experimental method, using 1H NMR spectroscopy, was developed, validated (LOD, LOQ, accuracy, precision and linearity of measurements) and applied in order to quantify citral (i.e...

Researchers explain cats' strong preference for tuna despite their desert evolution, linking it to biological factors. Read the article to learn more.

An odor map achieved human-level odor description performance and generalized to diverse odor-prediction tasks.

Art isn't a side note in human history; it's the main text. The act of creating art is a deep inquiry into our relationship with the world.

Perception of flavor is a dynamic process during which the concentration of aroma molecules at the olfactory epithelium varies with time as they are released progressively from the food in the mouth during consumption. The release kinetics depends on the food matrix itself but also on food oral processing, such as mastication behavior and food bolus formation with saliva, for which huge inter-individual variations exist due to physiological differences. Sensory methods such as time intensity (TI) or the more-recent methods temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) and temporal check-all-that-apply (TCATA) are used to account for the dynamic and time-related aspects of flavor perception. Direct injection mass spectrometry (DIMS) techniques that measure in real time aroma compounds directly in the nose (nosespace), aimed at obtaining data that reflect the pattern of aroma release in real time during food consumption and supposed to be representative of perception, have been developed over the last 25 years. Examples obtained with MS operated in chemical ionization mode at atmospheric or sub-atmospheric pressure (atmospheric pressure chemical ionization APCI or proton-transfer reaction PTR) are given, with emphases on studies conducted with simultaneous dynamic sensory evaluation. Inter-individual variations in terms of aroma release and their relevance for understanding flavor perception are discussed as well as the evidenced cross-modal interactions.

The Odeuropa Smell Explorer is a brand-new web tool developed for the exploration of smell as a cultural phenomenon. This searchable website enables you to discover the smells the past and understand how they shaped European history and culture. The Smell Explorer is the result of three years of intensive research and development by an ... Read more

To determine the concentrations of aroma compounds involved in the fruity aroma of red wines, an analytical method was developed and optimized using liquid–liquid extraction and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The aim was to reduce sample preparation and analysis time, with a single sample preparation and a single injection being needed to quantify 43 compounds. 19 esters, 13 monoterpenes, 5 C13-norisoprenoids, and 6 C6-aldehyde and alcohol compounds were quantified in 14 red wines made from different grape varieties grown in the Mediterranean basin. Samples were selected based on typical varietal aroma by a panel of experts, who produced 7 olfactory descriptors linked to desirable or non-desirable wine aromas. The instrumental analysis showed variations in concentrations of the quantified compounds among the wines. The wines described using positive fruity descriptors had higher mean total concentrations of esters, C6-alcohols, monoterpenes, and C13-norisoprenoids. Some non-ester compounds were positively correlated with the fruity descriptors. Sensory profile results obtained by a panel of 16 trained judges revealed that the addition of non-ester compounds (including 2 cyclic esters) to a red wine initially described as having cooked fruit aromas had a positive contribution to some fresh fruity notes. This study opens up new avenues for research on the potential involvement of non-ester compounds in the fruity expression of red wines.

One of the main reasons for consumer rejection of plant-based meat alternatives is the lack of meaty flavor after cooking. In this study, a platform was developed to generate meaty flavors solely from Allium substrates (chives, leeks, ramsons, and onions) using basidiomycete-mediated submerged fermentations. Polyporus umbellatus-mediated fermentation of onions resulted in an intense meaty and liver sausage-like flavor under proper fermentation parameters. Using multisolvent and solvent-free aroma extractions coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry–olfactometry, 5 odorants with high assigned flavor dilution (FD) factors (≥ 256) were identified in the fermented sample that have been reported in the literature as important aroma compounds of meat products: methyl palmitate, bis(2-methyl-furyl) disulfide, (E,E)-2,4-decadienal, γ-nonalactone, and eugenol. Using selected ion monitoring, the presence of bis(2-methyl-furyl) disulfide (meaty, savory, FD 256) after fermentation was confirmed. It was proposed that P. umbellatus enzymatically forms bis(2-methyl-furyl) disulfide from intermediates derived from the thermal degradation of thiamine.

Beyond its culinary use, spices have a fascinating history of trade, culture exchange, and medicinal properties.

A research team attempted to figure out how the notorious durian fruit produces a potent stench. Learn more about it in this article.

How did a country that did not make wine somehow invent effervescence?

A great deal of peel, pulp and stone waste is constantly being generated in the production of olive oil. And while that waste is often just dumped or incinerated, it could soon be used as a source of valuable antioxidants.

Sports drinks existed long, long before Gatorade, although they didn't always resemble the athletic beverages of today.

Some foods have more to offer our bodies than just flavor, and impact more than taste buds. Here's what you need to know about the science behind that.

As a part of its Cocoa for Generations strategy, Mars decided in 2019 to expand its decades-long relationship with the University of California, Davis, by building greenhouses and a genetics and integrated pest management laboratory to study cacao.

Schweppes might not be the most popular beverage brand these days, but its significance to the history of soft drinks makes it one of the most important.

Alicia Kennedy's debut book tackles punk restaurants, underground vegan zines, and Silicon Valley.

Fructose with excessive sugar can trigger the lowering of the body's ATP, which is a characteristic found in obesity, diabetes, and other sicknesses. Read to learn more.

If you can't find the words to describe the type or taste of the coffee you're drinking, your search may very well end with the Coffee Flavor Wheel.

Recent research has attempted to predict our perception of odorants using Machine Learning models. The featurization of the olfactory stimuli usually represents the odorants using molecular structure parameters, molecular fingerprints, mass spectra, or e-nose signals. However, the impact of the choice of featurization on predictive performance remains poorly reported in direct comparative studies. This paper experiments with different sensory features for several olfactory perception tasks. We investigate the multilabel classification of aroma molecules in odor descriptors. We investigate single-label classification not only in fine-grained odor descriptors (‘orange’, ‘waxy’, etc.), but also in odor descriptor groups. We created a database of odor vectors for 114 aroma molecules to conduct our experiments using a QCM (Quartz Crystal Microbalance) type smell sensor module (Aroma Coder®V2 Set). We compare these smell features with different baseline features to evaluate the cluster composition, considering the frequencies of the top odor descriptors carried by the aroma molecules. Experimental results suggest a statistically significant better performance of the QCM type smell sensor module compared with other baseline features with F1 evaluation metric.

Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Join us online, on the road, or in Washington, DC.

Ever wonder how soda manufacturers get the bubbles and fizz inside the can? A chemist explains some of the science behind the carbonation process. Hint − it involves carbon.

Ever since gene editing became feasible, researchers and health officials have sought tools that can quickly and reliably distinguish genetically modified organisms from those that are naturally occurring. ...

Texture plays a big role in how we enjoy food. These are the 10 foods that might be good if the texture wasn't so off.

Discussion about the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and the fragrance industry: how the progress of AI affects the art of perfumery, different points of view and individual experiences of the contributors, the opportunities and main challenges we can expect, etc. Artificial Intelligence has been rapidly advancing in recent years, in leaps and bounds in all spheres of life, so the perfume industry is no exception. The topic

Coca-Cola and many other food products have a signature rich caramel color. However, attaining that brownish hue comes with a possible health risk.

Our growing awareness of thiols and other hop compounds are just scratching the surface of beer’s aromatic complexity. Inspired by some recent research into wine, Randy Mosher outlines a new model—aroma pools—that might help us think differently about how and what we smell in beer.