Over at the BBC , the myth about banana flavorer has been put to the test . And while there ’s a kernel of truth to the idea that false banana tree resemble a form that intimately went extinct , it ’s still a just a myth .
Top image : confect : BananasbyBart Heird / CC BY - NC - ND 2.0
At the BBC , Chris Baraniuk has anarticleon the always - interesting topic ofartificial smack . Among all the selective information on the scientific tricks used to make food taste like other food , there ’s a chip about fake banana tree that ’s in particular refreshing .
How Flavor Chemists Make Your Food So Addictively undecomposed
On the exfoliation of “ tastes like the real matter ” to “ who on Earth could bedevil the two ? , ” banana tree - flavored treats unremarkably drop anchor the latter end . In its demurrer , a myth has sprung up that hokey banana is base on the pungent Gros Michel banana , which was nearly wipe out by the Fusarium oxysporum fungus in the 20th century . The replacement banana tree , the Cavendish , was insubordinate to the fungus , but had a different taste .
So the disconnection between the artificial banana and the food market store variety is purportedly due to the flavoring being found on the now - unavailable Gros Michel .
Baranuik ’s get no verifiable sources to support the myth . And was tell apart by an expert that it ’s just patently old banana flavor you get :
“ It sound very , very unlikely to me , ” enunciate synthetic constituent chemist Derek Lowe . “ The affair is , banana can be mime most of the way with a simple compound send for isoamyl acetate rayon . Many chemists know it as ‘ banana ester ’ and anyone who smells it at once goes , ‘ banana ! ’ “
Isoamyl ethanoate , which is indeed find in banana tree , is a very simple compound that is both cheap to get and highly versatile . stretch , it smell out more like pear than banana and logical combining of this ester have proved democratic .
However , a taste test has shown that the Gros Michel does closely resemble the contrived banana flavor :
Rob Guzman , a Hawaiian banana farmer , has a suggestion . He produces 35 different varieties – let in the Gros Michel . It ’s one of his top three preferent bananas and he says it has a very distinctive feeling .
“ It ’s almost like what a Cavendish would sample like but sort of amplified , sweet and , yeah , somehow hokey . Like how grapevine flavoured house of cards - gum tree differs from an actual grape vine , ” he explain . “ When I first tasted it , it made me think of banana flavourings . ”
And a biochemical analysis also suggests that the Gros Michel taste “ faux ” :
So while it does n’t necessarily make sense to debate that banana flavourings “ come from ” the Gros Michel , the Gros Michel does appear to taste quite artificial . This ties in with depth psychology of its biochemical properties . Back in the 1960s , for example , the Gros Michel was compared to the Valery , a cultivar of the Cavendish subgroup . “ A Buckminster Fuller and more interesting flavour was associated with the Valery fruit , ” notes one text on the matter . “ Confirmation by accelerator chromatographical studies showed few compounds and less volatile constituent for the Gros Michel compared to the Valery yield . ”
This hints that the Gros Michel does indeed have a biochemical visibility that tallies with the melodic theme of a more monotonous , less complex feeling . So perhaps there is some the true in the banana flavouring whodunnit after all . Once upon a metre , banana flavourings really did taste more like the real matter .
take more about artificial savor , admit how color is as important as factual taste sensation , at thefull article .
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140829-the-secrets-of-fake-flavours
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