Perfumer's Corner

Welcome to the Flavorist's Corner!

The Fragrance and Flavor Industry
Professional Flavors are part of a larger world called the Flavor and Fragrance Industry, represented by large, international Fragrance and Flavor companies like IFF in New York (International Flavors and Fragrances), Givaudan, and Firmenich (Switzerland), to name just a few. These are the companies that create and produce the raw materials of the fragrance and flavor industry, as well as many of the best-known final fragrance and flavor blends. There are also companies that specialize in just flavor manufacturing, but no matter how big or small, all flavor manufacturers are subject to very rigorous requirements, especially in the U.S. (*** We are not a flavor manufacturing company. We merely re-sell flavors - see Part I). All professional flavors are made from various types of raw materials, blended together to achieve various taste effects. Flavors can range from sweet to savory, and be used in a wide variety of applications from general food preparation to edible cosmetics and beyond. New applications for flavor concentrates are discovered all the time! There are different types of raw materials used, ranging from essential oils and distillates, all the way to single molecules, and it is interesting to learn about the way each category can be used. An interesting fact is that both perfume and flavors are often made from the same aroma molecules. The palette of flavor molecules is a "subset" of the wider world of fragrance molecules. For example, a simple vanilla flavor will most likely consist of vanillin, ethyl vanillin, ethyl maltol etc etc. These are all fragrance ingredients as well, and appear in many famous perfumes. So it really makes no sense at all to say that any particular flavor has no perfume ingredients. All flavors have perfume ingredients! What is important is that a flavor will only consist of ingredients that are certified as Food Safe. Professional Flavorists research the individual characteristics of these flavor raw materials, and through education and experience learn how to blend them into the flavors that consumers can use in their flavoring projects. We encourage people to explore for themselves this fascinating world!