Pickled Flavour
Pickled flavour is a compounded flavouring that reproduces the taste and aroma of fermented and brined vegetables, covering profiles such as Chinese sour cabbage, pickled mustard green, kimchi, cucumber pickle and pickled chilli. It is a formulated blend rather than a single substance, and in many commercial versions it combines a genuine fermented vegetable extract with compounded aroma chemicals and an acid system.
Three elements have to work together. The acid fraction, usually lactic and acetic acid with small amounts of other organic acids, supplies the sour taste and the characteristic tang. The aroma fraction supplies the fermented character, built on esters such as ethyl lactate, on sulphur compounds including dimethyl sulphide and dimethyl disulphide, and, in mustard family profiles, on isothiocyanates that give the sharp pungent lift. Salt and savoury components provide the background against which the sourness is tasted.
The flavour comes as a water soluble liquid in propylene glycol or ethanol, as an oil soluble liquid for fat phases, or as a spray dried powder on a maltodextrin carrier. Acid and sulphur components are reactive, so compatibility with the food matrix matters, and the volatile sulphur notes are lost quickly under prolonged heating, which is why dosing point is specified as tightly as dose rate.
We source bulk Pickled Flavour from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Hebei. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
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- Function
- Flavours and Aromas
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Clear liquid or free flowing powder according to grade |
| Colour | Colourless to pale yellow, or off white for powder grade |
| Odour and flavour | Characteristic pickled vegetable, true to reference sample |
| Relative density at 25 degrees Celsius, liquid grade | 1.000 to 1.100 |
| Refractive index at 20 degrees Celsius, liquid grade | 1.4200 to 1.4600 |
| Total acidity as lactic acid | Declared per formula, tolerance plus or minus 1 percent |
| pH of 1 percent solution | 3.0 to 4.5 |
| Moisture, powder grade | 5.0 percent maximum |
| Particle size, powder grade | 95 percent through 40 mesh |
| Lead | 1.0 mg/kg maximum |
| Arsenic | 0.5 mg/kg maximum |
| Total plate count | 1,000 cfu/g maximum |
| Yeast and mould | 50 cfu/g maximum |
| E. coli | Absent in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Profiles are the first division, with sour cabbage, pickled mustard, kimchi, dill cucumber and pickled pepper sold as separate items rather than as variants of one flavour. Each is usually offered in a fresh version, emphasising the bright acid and green notes, and an aged or long fermented version carrying more sulphur and more depth.
Physical form is the second. Water soluble liquids suit brines, sauces and beverages, oil soluble liquids suit seasoning oils and fried applications, and spray dried powders suit snack seasonings and instant noodle sachets, where free acid would otherwise attack the other dry components. Encapsulated grades are used where the acid must be kept apart from a carbonate or a protein until the product is rehydrated. Labelling status separates natural flavour grades built on fermented extracts and natural aroma chemicals from compounded grades using synthesised materials, and acidified grades that carry their own acid load are distinguished from flavour only grades where the customer adds the acid themselves.
Applications
- Instant noodle seasoning sachets in the sour cabbage and pickled vegetable varieties
- Potato crisps and extruded snacks with a pickled or sour flavour claim
- Prepared and frozen ready meals built on pickled vegetable dishes
- Sauces, dressings and dipping sauces needing a fermented sour character
- Meat products, where a pickled note is used to cut through fat in sausage and prepared pork
- Retorted soups, dosed after the heat step or in an encapsulated form
- Seasoning powders for foodservice and household use
- Plant based and vegetarian products, where fermented vegetable character adds complexity
- Beverages and alcoholic mixers with a savoury or pickle character
China Manufacturers of Pickled Flavour
Top Pickled Flavour manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States a flavour of this kind is a compounded flavouring whose components hold FEMA GRAS status or appear as synthetic flavouring substances under 21 CFR 172.515 and as natural extractives under 21 CFR 182.20, with the finished blend declared as natural flavour or artificial flavour according to what was used. Lactic and acetic acid are generally recognised as safe as multiple purpose food substances, and where they are added at levels that acidify the food they are declared as ingredients in their own right rather than within the flavour declaration.
In the European Union the product is a mixture of flavouring substances and flavouring preparations under Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008, which requires the individual flavouring substances to appear on the Union list and does not assign E numbers to flavourings. Acids used as acidity regulators are authorised additives with their own E numbers, lactic acid as E270 and acetic acid as E260, and are labelled accordingly when they perform a technological function in the finished food. Where a fermented vegetable extract is used, the general food hygiene requirements for the vegetable raw material apply. The Joint FAO and WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives has evaluated the ester and sulphur flavouring groups that make up much of this category.
Manufacturing Process
Where a fermented base is used, it is prepared first. Vegetables such as cabbage, mustard green or cucumber are salted and fermented with lactic acid bacteria under controlled temperature until the target acidity develops, then the brine and pulp are separated, and the liquid fraction is filtered and concentrated under vacuum at low temperature so that the volatile fermentation notes are preserved. Some producers instead run a submerged culture fermentation on a vegetable juice substrate, which gives a more reproducible acid and aroma profile than an open vegetable fermentation.
The compounding stage follows. Individual aroma chemicals and natural extracts are weighed against the formula and dissolved in the chosen carrier at low temperature, and the acid system is dosed in with careful control of pH, since the balance between lactic and acetic acid determines whether the result tastes pickled or merely sour. The concentrate and the compounded fraction are blended, held so that the blend comes together, and filtered. Liquid grades are filled directly under nitrogen. Powder grades are emulsified with a carrier and homogenised at high pressure, then spray dried in a co-current tower at a low outlet temperature, or plated onto a carrier where a simpler dry form is acceptable. Batches are cleared by a trained sensory panel against a retained reference.
