EMCs Pack a Flavor Punch

Some ingredients build fame on their subtlety, but not enzyme-modified cheese (EMC) -- it puts the "x" in "xtreme" snack crackers and provides the full-bodied background that fools the taste buds in light and lean cuisine. EMC can punch up the flavor profile in foods and increase cheese perception -- without adding a significant amount of fat. And, it increasingly plays a role in creating foods to meet demand for low-carb and authentic ethnic dishes.

First developed in the 1970s, EMC has evolved in its (relatively) short history. Most industry suppliers don't even call it "enzyme-modified cheese" anymore. At Givaudan Flavors Corp., Oconomowoc, WI, Dave Schumacher, vice president of the cheese and dairy flavors business unit, describes it as "a natural cheese flavor made using enzymes." He says the range of available EMC products and flavors and, more importantly, quality, represents a "new generation."

When an enterprising scientist developed EMC, he presented the industry with an economical solution to the use of natural cheese alone for flavoring. Natural cheese must age or mature for a period ranging from 2 months up to 4 years. Young cheese is less expensive than aged cheese, but not as flavorful.

EMC's base is young natural cheese, blended with food-grade lipases or proteases to intensify the cheese flavor development. It reaches maturity within 1 to 3 days. Modern biotechnology has created new enzymes with unique characteristics, designed to act on a specific substrate within the natural cheese to produce desired tonalities in the end product or flavoring system.

Microbial lipases do not produce the bitter notes typically associated with pancreatic lipase. Different lipases preferentially release different fatty acids to produce distinct flavor profiles, allowing manufacturers to tailor fatty-acid profiles and provide customized flavor notes. For example, releasing a high level of butyric acid can result in a cheese with "blue" flavor notes.

Natural cheese is a "living" system, with functional, physical and sensory profiles that change over time as the cheese ripens or ages. In contrast, an EMC is thermally treated to halt enzymatic activity once it has reached the desired flavor intensity. Therefore, a controlled addition of EMC with a blend of natural cheese helps create cheese products with uniform or more-targeted flavor.

Schumacher says early EMCs suffered from a tendency toward soapy or bitter notes. His company has conquered this, he says, by using fermentation to improve flavor strength and minimize off-notes.

Historically, EMC offered formulators a few basic flavor varieties, mainly Cheddar, in a powder or paste form. Today's flavorings can be kosher or organic, in a variety of pastes, powders and liquids, with numerous variations on a Cheddar theme (such as Vermont, Canadian or Wisconsin), as well as blue cheese, or ethnic varieties such as Emmental, feta, cotija or Oaxaca, to name a few. Schumacher says his customers have requested more flavor intensity and greater variety, spurring the creation of new Mexican flavors.

Mary Bishop, manager of biotechnology and dairy flavors for Degussa Food Ingredients, Cincinnati, says, "EMC development follows the trends. People are traveling more, the population is more diverse, and people are requesting savory flavors with ethnic authenticity, like Gorgonzola or Asiago."

Historically, a formulator could use an EMC to strengthen flavor in a product, while reducing costs and fat levels, by replacing some of the real cheese. Today's new generation of cheese flavors allows for greater intensity or can replace larger percentages of real cheese.

The final flavor intensity and the amount of EMC used depend on the application. According to Michelle Malone, research manager at Schreiber Foods, Inc., Green Bay, WI, certain sauces might simply require a background flavor and use an EMC at 0.1% level, but a snack cracker could use as much as 8%. "A sauce is going to allow faster and more intense flavor release -- it's not a heavy matrix you have to chew through, like a baked good," she explains.

In baked goods, Malone says the EMC's initial flavor profile might change as the Maillard reaction takes place. "When you have a highly broken-down cheese with a lot of free amino groups, then you get that desirable savory, toasty flavor note to come through during the baking process," she explains.

EMC is generally not used alone, but in combination with real cheese. "The original use of EMC was to reduce the amount of real cheese in formulation, and as you do that, you reduce fat," Schumacher says. "But you can't take a product with 15% aged Cheddar, say, and reduce it down to zero. This new generation of cheese flavors will allow the formula to use 9% to 10% real cheese and some added cheese flavor -- called 'serially reducing' or 'partially reducing' flavor."

Any food trend requiring reformulation also means changing the product base. "If a product is high in carbohydrates, one flavor might work, but if the company changes to a low-carb formula, the flavor or base will have to change," Schumacher notes.

Walt Postelwait, industry director of sweet and savory with Degussa, says EMCs play an important role in today's formulation of low-carb, functional or wellness foods. "Bolder is better these days, especially when you have fewer ingredients to work with," he observes.

Despite the flavor nuances available today, customer taste buds can remain unpredictable. Scott Erickson, vice president of research and development at Edlong Corporation, Elk Grove, IL, says, "What's ironic is that some companies still want that bitter, lipolytic taste." Whatever it takes to please the customer. Say "cheese," please, and pass the enzymes.

Jeanne Turner is a freelance writer with more than 10 years of experience writing about the functional properties of food ingredients.

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