Quest Create new Fruit Sensations

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31/05/06 Quest claims to have opened up a world of taste sensations for dairy and confectionery manufacturers. Using a unique freezing technology to capture the essence of true-to-fruit flavours Quest has developed a new range of true tropical fruit flavours.
 
Collectively known as Tropicsense, the range includes well-known fruits such as banana, pineapple and mango as well as more unusual and exotic flavours, such as bacuri, feijoa, pitahaya and cactus fruit.
 
Esther van Ommeren, senior flavourist, explains: “ Consumers are looking for new taste sensations that satisfy their curiosity. They also expect sophisticated flavour varieties of the known brands and are willing to pay a premium for these. Our global presence, understanding and experience have allowed us to develop true tropical flavours to satisfy these consumer needs, creating a collection that is both exotic by nature and fresh and sophisticated in taste.”
 
Quest is using its Freezeframe Biocaptive technology in order to capture the essence of the tropical range. This technology is best suited to fruits and spices and uses liquid nitrogen to freeze the fruit, excluding oxygen, thus preventing enzymatic degradation. The method boosts the flavour by capturing only the most authentic top notes which recreate that ‘first bite freshness’ of juicy fruits, bringing all the vibrancy and authenticity of tropical fruit to the Tropicsense flavour portfolio.
 
Analytical research has allowed Quest to identify new molecules that are the key to freshness in fruit flavours. Consumer research backs this up, showing that ‘fresh’ and ‘refreshment’ are very important product attributes for market success. Bio precursor technology enabled us to develop the ripe character components that consumers experience in tropical fruit.
 
“With this knowledge, we can replicate the freshness, vibrancy and authenticity of the real fruit, with the subtle nuances that make up the entire eating experience. So for example, passion fruit is quite complex: the juicy, edible pulp inside is rich, tart and fragrant with an aromatic, sharp-sweet taste. Or take pink guava, which is sweet, floral and musky and highly aromatic with a heady perfume.  This complexity in flavours creates a `layering’ effect. We have captured this effect to recreate a more complex, real and sophisticated true-to-fruit experience,” says van Ommeren.
 
Tropicsense is based on the philosophy of a previous Quest collection, Qsense™, founded on the principle that flavour creation should acknowledge ‘true-to-type’ flavours and respect cultural preferences. This technology, based on the study of high impact volatiles, was applied to the delivery of innovation in sweet flavours, from vanilla to chocolate, strawberry and coffee.
 
Tropicsense has been launched successfully in the EMEA and APAC markets and it is expected it will be launched in North America in 2006. An extension into alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage applications is being developed this spring.
 
The full list of flavours included in the confectionery and dairy range is: bacuri, pineapple, pink guava, green guava, pomegranate, mango, lychee, feijoa, passion fruit, maracuja, papaya, cactus fruit, pitahaya, sour sop, tamarind and banana.