Symrise Creates Masking Solutions for Stevia

These new solutions, which were developed as part of the SymLifeMASK portfolio, improve the taste profile of flavorings and beverages by masking the unpleasant off-notes of stevia and enhancing its sweetening properties.

03/04/09 The global flavoring manufacturer Symrise is now offering the food industry new flavor solutions for products sweetened with stevia.

There is a growing need for ways to mask off-notes in conjunction with special sweeteners. “More and more food and beverage companies are using natural sweeteners in their products,” says Dr. Gerhard Krammer, SVP Global Flavor Innovations Symrise. "As a result, there is also an increased need for customized natural ways to effectively mask undesired off-notes such as bitter notes.”

Stevia is one sweetener that is becoming more popular by the day around the world. Stevia rebaudiana is a traditional herbal sweetener that has no calories; it has been approved for use in foods in numerous countries, and consumer demand for it is high, particularly in the US.

When stevia is used as the only natural sweetener in a given product, however, some of its characteristics can be problematic. According to sensory studies Symrise conducted with specially trained test panelists, it yields off-notes of lingering bitterness and astringency, and its sweetness profile often differs from expectation.

As Symrise continues to expand its successful SymLifeMASK product palette, the company is now the first to offer the food industry a comprehensive new approach to products sweetened with stevia. Symrise's new flavorings based on natural patented ingredients and flavor modifiers improve a product's taste by masking undesired off-flavors and enhance additional stevia sweetening properties. The blends are perfect for use in sweets and beverages.

For three years, Symrise has marketed its range of SymLifeMASK flavorings. SymLifeMASK flavors have been effective in overcoming bitter, burning, astringent, chalky, salty, metallic tastes and a host of other off-flavors and off-notes. SymLifeMASK is part of the taste for life product palette. taste for life provides highly innovative flavorings which allow companies to reduce the amount of sugar, salt and fat in the finished product while still keeping a full taste and an authentic flavor.

According to Gerhard Krammer other research projects involving stevia are currently undergoing concrete development. “For us right now, the top priority is finding a natural way to optimize the flavor characteristics of foods and beverages sweetened with Reb A,” Gerhard Krammer states. “We are continuing intense research on other natural substances which would also be suitable, and we already have several promising candidates in our pipeline.”