Novotaste is more than just your typical flavour house. We work hand-in-hand with our customers to ensure the best possible solutions to their flavour needs.

We don’t value sending clients pre-formulated or “off-the-shelf” flavours while hoping that it will work. We will take the time to (1) fully understand your product, its respective processing conditions, labeling requirements & other specifics, (2) formulate our flavour systems with a diverse range of quality ingredients, (3) test our formulations in applications & (4) present our client a  NOVOflavour. Forming direct R&D partnerships with our clients ensures that work is executed in the most efficient way possible.

The objective of adding a flavour solution is to improve a product. Novotaste has taken this idea and stretched it to other areas of product improvement. Most of our existing flavour types can be enhanced with added value components. These complex flavour systems could possibly simplify  labels, remove allergens, add colour, extend the shelf-life/flavour stability & most of all enable our clients to reduce salt, sugar & fat.

Do you want to reduce salt while still maintaining the flavour of your product? Is your clientele demanding a reduced sugar version of your product? Ask about our NovoSolutions! We will formulate an all-in-one flavour specifically for you that incorporates this reducing technology while enhancing the taste.

Our flavours and flavour solutions are fully customizable to your needs. We take the solubility of your base, product processing conditions, and type of application into account as we create your flavour.

For best results, we recommend that our Research & Development team works directly with your team. This lab-to-lab communication has proven to be more effective in finding the right flavour system for you. Information is transmitted faster and more specifically resulting in a higher rate of accuracy with our sample submissions.

Adding a Novotaste flavour adds value to your creations. In their simplest forms, Novotaste flavours enhance the taste of your product. However, our NovoSolutions can offer you much more than your basic flavour. For example, imagine a soy sauce flavour without the soy allergen. Or, a kimchi flavour without fish or seaweed by-products. We offer complex flavours without their inherent allergens.

Similarly, with consumer focus shifting to healthier options, reduced sodium and reduced sugar options are at the forefront of product changes. Our flavour team has been developing flavour systems that enhance your product’s flavour while allowing you to reduce the sodium. Reductions of 15-80% sodium have been successful in a variety of products, from soup mixes to cottage cheese. Additionally, our salt reducers are “label friendly” because we do not use complex additives or chemicals. However, it is important to maintain your flavour profile when these ingredients are reduced. Our NovoSolutions allow you to do both: reduce the salt or sugar but maintain your flavour. See our R&D section to discover more.

All of these projects require quality time with your base to customize these flavours for your needs. Our team will work to come up with the best solution for you.

When matching a flavour, it is important to have as much information as possible before beginning. Knowing the processing conditions of the product is key because this will affect the flavour impact in the final product. Certain solvents are best for low temperature processing because they will evaporate under high heat leaving behind very little flavour. Yet, these same solvents may be ideal for a low heat treatment because they are less expensive than their heat stable counterparts.

The composition of the base or final product is especially important. The percentage of oil soluble constituents, such as butter and canola oil, will determine whether the base needs an oil soluble or a water soluble flavour. Our solvents cover both types, but how we build and test the flavour will depend on this solubility. A basic formulation for your product

is always the easiest way to get the information we need. We aren’t looking to replicate your product, only to get a rough idea of its ingredients along with processing conditions. Additionally, if you are concerned about giving us your basic formulation, Novotaste is willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement with your company so you can be assured that the information will never leave our labs.

Once this basic information is gathered the Novotaste Research & Development Team sets out to match the flavour. We begin by smelling and tasting it in the appropriate medium, water for example. By tasting the flavour in the appropriate medium we have removed the complexity and interfering tastes of your base. This helps us to better analyze the flavour to determine which aromatic chemicals to include in the flavour.

Our first formulation is based on this initial impression. This first trial encompasses the “backbone” of the flavour. It contains all of the major constituents, however, they may not all be in the right proportions yet. This first trial is tasted in sugar water and compared to the flavour we are trying to match, called the “standard”. From there the backbone notes of the flavour are adjusted and the more subtle notes are added and adjusted in the formulation. These subtle notes make the flavour distinctive, so they are crucial to identify and include in the flavour.

Once we believe that our flavour matches the standard when tasted in the appropriate medium, we move on to test the flavours in the final application. The additional complexity provided by the base enhances the flavour and gives us an indication of how close our flavour matches the standard. If it is not a match, we go back the drawing board and tweak up the flavour. A match can take anywhere from 6 to 60 trials; we keep formulating until we have achieved an acceptable version. If it is a match, sensory testing is done throughout the company to get further opinions and the flavour is prepared to send to you for your own evaluation.

The process is similar for matching the flavour of a fruit or vegetable. We are constantly on the lookout for exotic produce and when we find something new we buy it, taste it, and share our impressions of it among the R&D Team. We then replicate the flavour through tasting and formulation adjustments until we succeed in matching the product.

Mother Nature & the food industry have created a variety of different food ingredients that sometimes contain undesirable components, so they are simply not used in formulations. At Novotaste, we can reverse engineer most food ingredients typlically used for flavouring/taste so that ONLY the problematic ingredients are removed. One classic example of this would be for green tea type ingredients that contain caffeine & a variety of polyphenols that can sometimes interact with various matrices & have negative impacts on stability. In this example, we can simply formulate complex flavour systems only containing the desired components & even include other added value ingredients. Meat, fish, dairy, alcohol, peanut & other allergen containing flavouring ingredients can all be reverse engineered to enable your products to have the desired flavour profiles that are required. We can guarantee that these specific flavour systems will NOT contain the problematic ingredients that you might be concerned with.

Reverse engineering flavour types is one of our specialties & can be done with about any type of ingredient, dish or other food concepts. Our R&D department will use a combination of literature, analytical processes, experience & creativity to reconstruct the most authentic flavour system for your applications.