Topic summary
Flavoring agent
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Flavoring.
Flavor creation
Most artificial flavors are specific and often complex mixtures of singular naturally occurring flavor compounds combined to either imitate or enhance a natural flavor. These mixtures are formulated by flavorists to give a food product a unique flavor and to maintain flavor consistency between different product batches or after recipe changes. The list of known flavoring agents includes thousands of molecular compounds, and flavor chemists (flavorists) can often mix these together to produce many of the common flavors. Many flavorings consist of esters, which are often described as being sweet or fruity.