Portfolio
Kanegrade offers a complete range of sweet and savoury liquid flavours (powders coming soon in H2 2024).
Why use flavours?
- Introduce: Flavours introduce aroma to a product that was not there
- Boost: Flavours can boost and complement flavours from other ingredients
- Consistency: Flavours give complete consistency as every batch is analysed
- Safety: Flavours are safe since the ingredients are regulated
- Cost: Flavours are generally cheaper cost-in-use than other ingredients
- Uniqueness: Flavours give your product a unique taste that consumers love
1. Fruit
Every fruit you can imagine from Apple to Yuzu. We have many variations of classic flavours such as Strawberry, Banana and Raspberry, as well as some fruits you may not have heard of such as Starfruit, Dragon fruit and Durian.
2. Sweet Brown
Our Sweet Brown flavours are some of the most mouth-watering: they include Toffees, Caramels, Chocolates (Dark, Milk, White), Vanillas and Honey. There are also specialities such as Butterscotch, Maple and Nougat.
3. Herbs, Spices, Florals
Use a hint of herb or spice to give your product another dimension, adding earthy, warm/spicey, peppery or floral notes giving complexity and uniqueness to your product. Options include Aniseed, Caraway, Cinnamon, Juniperberry and Lemongrass.
4. Dairy
Yoghurt, Cheeses, Cream and Butter flavours, and can be used in many dairy and non-dairy applications including tea/coffee RTDs, flavoured milk, yoghurt, baked goods and confectionery to give creamy and acidic aromas to your product.
Custom Development
If one of our existing flavourings isn’t quite right for you, let us know! We love working with customers to develop a flavour until it’s perfect.
Here are some ways we can custom develop for you:
- Adapt: You could take one of the flavours from our existing library and we will adapt it to give your product a unique profile in your product by making it more fresh, juicy, roasted or any number of different profiles
- Combination: We could make up a combination for you that gives a unique impact to your product, for example truffle/thyme, raspberry/basil, orange/tarragon, cucumber/plum
- Fantasy: You may want a totally original idea that doesn’t taste like anything else, a so-called fantasy flavour like the recent unicorn flavour trend. We will discuss the descriptors you want in your product, and present concepts to you
- Seasonal: You may also have an important holiday or seasonal product launch coming up, and we will develop some unique ideas for you
If you’re interested in custom development of a flavour let us know today!
Matching
There are many reasons you may need a flavour matched: if lead times are too long from an existing supplier, service levels are poor or a product is discontinued then we can help you.
Kanegrade have developed a thorough process which ensures you can have complete confidence that the flavour supplied will be an ideal match, giving you continuity and ensuring your production is not affected.
Firstly, we take your sample and use hydrogen-source Agilent GC-MS (Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry) to analyse a given sample and give an approximate formulation. This gives a basic formulation that our flavourists will create.
Next we organoleptically score the target for several characteristics. For example in a Cream flavour it will be for Creaminess, Sourness, Sweetness, Cooked Notes, Biscuitiness and Fruitiness. This is plotted on a radar graph and assessed against the match and any adjustments made.
Triangle test
Once our flavourists are satisfied, the match sample is put forward for a triangle test, in which a panel is asked to try and detect the match out of a choice of three: 2x are the original and 1x is the match. The fewer panel members that can detect it, the better the match.
This process is repeated up to 10 times (or as many as needed!) until it is indistinguishable from the original and the final sample is ready to be submitted to you for your own confirmation. If a scale-up trial is required we’re happy to provide the sample quantity you require.
Do you need a flavour match? Let us know by enquiring today.
Natural Flavourings
Kanegrade is delighted to offer a range of natural flavours, alongside more widely-used synthetic flavours.
Natural flavours only contain flavouring substances derived from a natural source and/or natural raw materials.
This makes a compelling selling point for your end product. Driven by market demand, natural flavours are used more often than ever, and the range of natural raw materials continues to grow.
If your flavour requirement must be labelled as a natural flavour that’s great, ensure to let us know in your enquiry.
Is a natural claim crucial?
However using natural flavours is not the only option, with synthetic flavours offering some distinct advantages. Please download our additional guide to choosing natural or synthetic flavours for your application.
Technical
Choice of carrier: Carriers are essential to ensure the many different aroma-chemicals are evenly distributed and stable in the flavouring, as well as to standardise the strength and ensure the flavouring itself is well distributed in your application.
There are some well-established and safe carriers commonly used, yet some of these result in a maximum allowable dose limit, which ensures the content of carrier left in the final product is within the regulatory limits.
Where there are maximum dose rates due to restrictions on the carrier, the carrier percentage will always be stated in the provided documentation.
Most of our flavours are formulated to be within this limit but in case you are finding you need to dose higher, we’ll be happy to make a customised, stronger sample for you with the same profile.
When selecting a carrier, knowing whether the application is water-soluble or oil-soluble is essential. Here are the most common carrier options for flavours:
For Water-soluble applications:
- Propylene Glycol (Maximum dose rate of 0.1% for Beverage, 0.3% for Food)
- Triacetin (Maximum dose rate of 0.1% for Beverage, 0.3% for Food)
- Ethanol (No dose limits)
For Oil-soluble applications:
- Rapeseed Oil (Low cost, no dose limit)
- MCT Oil (Very clean profile, more expensive, no dose limit)
For Dry applications:
- For Plated powders Maltodextrin + Plating Agent
- For Spray-died encapsulated powders Maltodextrin + Gum Acacia
You may already know which carrier you’d like in your application, or you may want to discuss it further, so get in touch today.
Legislation
The main legislation for flavours is 1334/2008 which sets out all aspects of flavours. This was EU legislation which has been adopted into UK legislation and is known internationally as a very high and extremely rigorous standard.
Individual aroma-chemicals, known as flavouring substances have been assessed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and are added to the Union List of allowable chemicals in a positive way, making flavours very safe for use. As developments evolve and new information presents itself this is continually evolving with updates published frequently.
Kanegrade monitors the legislation and ensures that the flavours we supply are compliant with EU/UK legislation. Being a member of the UK Flavour Association (UKFA) ensures we are provided with the most up-to-date information on a continual basis.
Our software allows us to identify any formulations containing an ingredient of concern and make adjustments so you have peace of mind that your final product is compliant.
For more information, or any regulatory / compliance questions, please get in touch.
Labelling
You may wonder how the flavours we supply can be described in the ingredient list on your product pack.
For synthetic flavours, these can be labelled as:
- Flavouring (or if there are multiple these can be grouped and listed as ‘Flavourings’)
- X Flavouring (where X is the characteristic aroma, e.g. Strawberry Flavouring)
For natural flavours, they can be labelled as:
- Natural flavouring (where all the flavouring components are derived from a natural source)
- Natural X flavouring (where 95% or more of the flavouring components are derived from the named source X)
Documentation
With any flavouring sample or order, we provide all the documentation you require to use the flavour safely. We provide as standard:
- Product specification
- Safety Data Sheet (SDS)
- Allergen Information
- Nutritional Information
- *And with orders a Certificate of Analysis.
Religious certifications are also available if needed for your application.
If you require additional documentation or product information, please do get in touch.
Enquire
If you’re ready to request information or a product sample from us, our flavour experts look forward to hearing about your project and discussing it with you.
You can phone us, schedule a phone or video call or send us an email.
Contact: Kalpna Parbhoo
Technical Sales (Flavours)
kalpna@kanegrade.com
We would also like to invite you to visit us in Stevenage to see how flavours are developed and made, so let us know if you’d like to make an in-person visit.
