We all probably have similar takeaways when biting into a ripe strawberry – maybe something akin to sweet, juicy, or fresh. But how would you describe an unripe strawberry or Twizzlers? It’s a little more complicated, right? As flavor creators, we understand the nuances and have the know-how and expertise to create your desired flavor profile. Perhaps you’d prefer a more candy-like or jammy flavor? What about creamy? And what do these words mean to you?
We all have our own ways of describing our taste experiences, and let’s face it, language is complicated. This is why our sensory team has developed a Flavor Lexicon that aligns our teams with a standardized flavor language. Internally this ensures everyone is using the same words to communicate the perceived flavor profile. Equally important is that our customers adopt this language to communicate their concept as they collaborate with our product developers and flavorists. This alignment on taste descriptors and flavor profiles simplifies communication and can ultimately speed up the process to get your product to market.
That’s why we’re excited to announce the release of our Strawberry Flavor Wheel, which represents the first fruit flavor as we build our Flavor Lexicon. Our sensory specialists have defined nine flavor profiles representative of the Strawberry experience – candy-like, cooked, creamy, fruity, green, jammy, ripe, seedy, and sweet. How would you describe these words? To learn how we describe them, download the Strawberry Flavor Wheel. It’s a valuable tool to keep handy the next time you request our flavors or work with us on a product. Stay tuned for more flavor wheels as our team continues to taste and talk about some of the most popular flavors.
Download the Strawberry Flavor Profile Wheel
| Term | Characteristics |
|---|---|
| Candy-like | Certain notes exaggerated to make the flavor taste more like candy; may include cotton candy, brown notes, sugar-like notes and often done to induce nostalgia or make more kid-friendly |
| Cooked | Food that has been heated, from lightly caramelized to burnt |
| Creamy | Heavy cream or other similar dairy products |
| Fruity | Flavors typical of fruits, usually sweet estery aromas with sweet or somewhat sour tastes |
| Green | Green leaves, unripe fruit, stems, or vegetables |
| Jammy | Fruit jams, containing brown nuance similar to that produced when reducing fruity and sugar with heat, from lightly caramelized to mushy or overcooked |
| Ripe | Food that has aged; for fruit, this is associated with a drop in green compounds and increase in esters |
| Seedy | The taste of seeds found in certain fruits, nuts, pits, slightly woody |
| Sweet | Sugary sweetness |
