LycoRed, Israel, has adapted its natural enhancer, SANTE, for boosting flavour in powdered and canned soups. The adaptation follows extensive tests in lab applications. Soup makers can now eliminate the use of MSG and similar less-desirable ingredients with LycoRed’s SANTE, thereby include reducing salt in their products.
“SANTE's secret is that it is the concentration of all of the tastes and flavouring components that exist naturally in tomatoes, delivering true umami and kokumi taste characteristics,” explains Roee Nir, Colour and Flavour Global Commercial Manager for LycoRed. “Using only a small amount of SANTE in canned and prepared soup formulations—typically high in sodium—will boost the overall soup flavour and allow salt reduction of up to 30%, without tomato flavour notes.”
SANTE also allows replacement of a wide variety of artificial flavour enhancers, while retaining—and even improving—the overall taste balance. SANTE smoothes out rough, unbalanced and “peaky” tastes, creating a cohesive finish and boosting the taste profile. Due to the unique blend of components extracted from tomatoes, it extends the perceived flavour's dwell time on the palate, improves mouthfeel and texture, yet achieves significant reduction in sodium and other ingredients used as enhancers. SANTE is suitable for use in liquid or powder formulations and is highly stable at high temperatures and variable pH.
In tests, replacing 0.2% MSG in a standard chicken soup mix with an equivalent quantity of SANTE liquid reduced sodium content by 25% and maintained high flavour quality. “We also ran several trials using the powder form of SANTE in a commercial dry pea soup mix,” remarks Ehud Zach, Food Applications Manager for LycoRed. “We found that it can perform as an excellent alternative for the partial or total replacement of standard flavour enhancers.”
Kokumi is another sensory phenomenon of SANTE. Ingredients with kokumi attributes, when combined with other molecules, have three distinct effects in foods: They enhance the initial flavour onset; they round off, or balance, the overall flavour profile; and they extend these perceptions for a more pleasant, longer-lasting experience, enhancing other aspects of the food.
LycoRed is an innovative, science-based company creating breakthrough healthy nutraceutical ingredients for the food, beverage and dietary supplement industries. With a large complement of multinational customers across the global supply chain, LycoRed eagerly serves each client with attentiveness, quick response and maximum flexibility.
