Trying to decide between protein powder flavors. Looked at the ingredients and there almost no difference but the flavors are. So im guessing they come from the “natural flavorings”…what are those?
Some are obscure flavors: cereal milk, coffee and walnuts, speculoos, cookies and cream, chocolate chip cookie, white chocolate raspberry, carrot cake, curcuma latte, banana, strawberries and cream…
In: Chemistry
> Some are obscure flavors: cereal milk, coffee and walnuts, speculoos, cookies and cream, chocolate chip cookie, white chocolate raspberry, carrot cake, curcuma latte, banana, strawberries and cream…
You’re thinking too high-level. What makes a raspberry taste like a raspberry? It’s [raspberry ketone.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_ketone) For bananas, it’s [isoamyl acetate.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoamyl_acetate) These are the scientific names for the very specific molecules that our receptors notice and identify as “raspberry flavor”. Of course, the actual flavor of a raspberry is far more complex and contains many different molecules, but those can also be mimicked to some degree.
Sometimes these molecules are extracted from the fruit itself. Sometimes they’re synthesized in a lab, but chemically identical. Sometimes they’re extracted from another natural source – famously, beavers have an anal scent gland that contains vanillin, the molecule that gives vanilla its flavor.
Latest Answers