How are food and drink companies able to replicate intricate natural flavors with artificial ones?

Question

For instance, how does something taste like a tangerine when there is no actual tangerine juice in the food or drink?

In: 4

Answer 1

Most things have a large amount of aromatic chemicals in them that make you smell and taste what it is. Artificial flavoring is usually the most present few of those, which can be synthesized in a lab or extracted through a chemical process and refined. It’s also the reason why something that claims to taste like a tangerine doesn’t quite have the same depth as a real tangerine.