Low-Sodium Flavor Enhancer

In a crowded marketplace, food manufacturers need to make their products stand out, but not so far out that consumers dont choose them.

Consumers make quick decisions about their food, so offerings have to be recognizable, says Andrew Hunter, foodservice and industrial chef. Theyll more likely go for lasagna with a Bolognese sauce than a lasagna with less-familiar ingredients and flavors. So the question is, how do you formulate your product to be even more delicious than the next guys, and more cost-effective?

Kikkoman Natural Flavor Enhancer (NFE)available in liquid and powdered formscan help formulators differentiate their products. A versatile, clean-label alternative to MSG or HVP, NFE is made with the essential elements of naturally brewed Kikkoman Soy Saucewater, wheat, soybeans and saltas well as alcohol. A proprietary brewing process reduces the soy sauce flavor, aroma and color, creating a neutral, natural flavor enhancer.

We like to think of NFE as a final ingredient for food products of all flavor profiles. NFE gives an extra push of flavor to make a product more craveable, Hunter says. The basic principle of NFE is umami, the fifth taste. Soy sauce also adds umami, but NFE does it without adding a discernible soy sauce flavor.

To demonstrate NFEs flavor-boosting properties, Hunter made an all-American meal of clam chowder, Caesar salad, sliders and apple pie for a group of food-industry folks. Diners sampled two versions of each course, one with and one without NFE. He specifically chose to make these dishes because he wanted to illustrate the ingredients versatility by using it in light-colored items, like the soup and salad, and in desserts, where soy flavor would be overpowering. After sampling the dishes, the diners were asked which one tasted better, why, and which one they thought had been made with NFE.

Everyone, without fail, selected the NFE version, but no one could tell me exactly why, other than it tasted better, Hunter recalls. With regular soy sauce, he notes, usage levels over 2.5% give an Asian flavor profile to formulations. With NFE, which is milder, typical usage levels of 5% to 7% provide umami without adding a soy-sauce flavor.

In addition to helping boost flavor, NFE can help reduce sodium in formulations. On a per tablespoon basis, table salt has approximately 6,400 mg sodium, soy sauce has 920 mg, and NFE has 720 mg, or 9 times less sodium than salt.

Umami is the central point of the product, Hunter says. Its a great flavor driver, and it can be used to reduce sodium levels while keeping food craveable.