Beyond Mac and Cheese: How Dairy Concentrates Build Flavor Systems

Dairy concentrates are one of the least understood ingredients in the food industry. Earlier this year, we set about changing that by writing the definitive FAQ on dairy concentrates. Check it out for a soup to nuts read on these versatile and amazing ingredients.

The article was well received, but in hindsight, we should have focused more on flavor. Here’s what we wrote about it earlier this year:

CAN CONCENTRATES HAVE DIFFERENT FLAVOR PROFILES AND STRENGTHS?

Dairy concentrates are typically 5 to 20 times more concentrated than standard dairy products on a volume basis. In a formula that uses natural or processed cheese at 10% to 20% of total allocation weight, cheese powder concentrates may be used at 0.3% to 2%, paste concentrates may be used at 0.5% to 4%, and dairy and cheese powders may be used at 5% to 10%.

Valuable information, but it’s only telling part of the flavor story when it comes to dairy concentrates. In fact, dairy concentrates can be the backbone of a product’s entire flavor system, providing the foundation, targeted flavor notes and distinct aromatics. Yes, they can make a cheese sauce even cheesier, but their true potential is in serving as a flavor system in a wide variety of applications.

Building a Flavor System

Dairy concentrates are specialized ingredients designed to deliver intensified dairy flavor through enzyme modification and other specialized production processes. They are made from real dairy, but through our processes, we’re able to build complete flavor systems with one ingredient.

We start building these flavor systems by looking at the building blocks of flavor, including umami, sweetness and the brown savory notes produced from the Maillard reaction. Next, we look at the core flavor delivery notes. We’ll take a cheese such as parmesan, and modify its flavor profile to make it nuttier, saltier or simply cheesier.

Finally, we work with our customers on top note flavor modulations. What aromatics are they looking for that will customize every concentrate we produce?

This process is complex and requires a balance of food science and biochemistry. It’s a process we’ve mastered and have successfully brought to countless new products. We’ve also “matched” traditional dairy products with dairy concentrates, amplifying flavor while optimizing costs, which is another benefit of these ingredients.

Dairy concentrates allow a single ingredient to replace multiple traditional components in a formula. This reduces complexity in procurement, streamlines allergen management, lowers overall ingredient load and enables more precise flavor targeting across product lines.

Thinking Outside the Jar

When you view dairy concentrates as complete flavor systems and not simply dairy ingredients, you can start to see their value in products beyond mac and cheese, dips and soups. One of the best non-traditional applications for dairy concentrates is the humble red sauce.

Tomato-based sauces are deceptively complex flavor systems that often require sugar, salt, spices and sometimes fats to round out the flavor and mouthfeel. By using dairy concentrates, sauce manufacturers can enhance almost every facet of the sauce and make it stand out.

Umami: Dairy concentrates can be modified to produce a deep, savory backbone for a sauce without adding ingredients such as MSG or yeast extracts.
Acid Balancing: Tomatoes are acidic and often need to be balanced with added sugar. Dairy concentrates do the trick as well, reducing the perceived acidity of the sauce by increasing the fat richness.
Mouthfeel Enhancement: Even at small usage rates, dairy concentrates will increase the viscosity of a sauce and enhance the mouthfeel.

That’s three functions, one ingredient and one amazing red sauce. And, there are even more applications for dairy concentrates that our Agile Kitchen™ team is working on, including frozen pizzas, baked goods and even burritos.

Yes, our dairy concentrates can make your mac and cheese even cheesier, but they also can be a core flavor system to make red sauces richer and baked goods more savory. Contact us with your product application and we’ll tell you if there is an opportunity to enhance flavor or optimize costs with dairy concentrates.