7 Major Differences Between Flavor Concentrates and Juices

7 Major Differences Between Flavor Concentrates and Juices

There’s nothing like the flavor, mouthfeel, and intensity of 100% real juices. Many have fond memories of their favorite breakfast that starts with a small glass of freshly squeezed orange or tomato juice. Or how about sipping that Pina Colada made with real pineapple juice under a thatched roof at the beach. Or the pure cranberry juice mocktail when it’s your turn to be the designated driver for the night.

Real juices are great. However, while they are the target or gold standard in terms of flavor in the development of commercial beverages, using juices alone is often insufficient as they have some inherent disadvantages. This blog post discusses those deficiencies and why the addition of flavor concentrates normally yields a better result.

Definitions: Flavor Concentrate vs Fruit Juices

As discussed in more detail in an earlier blog post, What is Flavor, a flavor concentrate is a blend of various GRAS Listed edible ingredients that simulate the aroma and taste of a fruit, vegetable, or other edible product. Flavor concentrates can be derived from either/or a combination of Artificially-made or Naturally-sourced raw materials. They can also be Non-GMO and Organic Certified. The average use rate of a flavor concentrate by weight per pound of a finished, commercial beverage is 0.3% (0.003), meaning that 3 pounds of a typical flavor will flavor 1,000 pounds of a finished beverage.

On the other hand, a juice is defined as the liquid obtained from or present in fruits or vegetables. The source of the juice is the fruit or vegetable itself. Though it can be as high as you like, a typical use rate of a juice by weight in a finished, commercial beverage is 3.0%, meaning that 30 pounds of juice is used in 1,000 pounds of a finished beverage.

The 7 Differences

Now that we are clear about their definitions, let’s look at the practical differences between using flavor concentrates and juices in commercial beverages.

Availability / Seasonality

As previously mentioned, the only source of a juice is its fruit or vegetable, most of which have definite growing seasons in limited regions of the world. Of course, the trees and plants on which fruits and vegetables grow can be adversely affected by weather patterns, storms and infestations of various varieties. Also of impact, juices are in competition with the use of their parent fruits for other needs: whole-fresh, canned, frozen, dried, etc. These non-juice uses of the fruits and vegetables, typically command higher prices/profits than the juices. For these reasons, there are naturally finite supplies of juices each year.

With a GRAS list of around 4,000 ingredients that can be used in flavor concentrates, it is rarely a problem to find the raw materials needed to make fruit or vegetable flavors. In most cases, should a particular ingredient become scarce, other raw materials can be substituted with no perceptible difference in flavor.

Consistency

The flavor, aroma and sweetness (brix) of natural fruits and vegetables grown in the same region and from the same trees, vines and plants varies from season to season, sometimes quite significantly. Because of this, nearly every year some adjustments to beverage formulas containing significant amounts of natural juice are required. With flavor concentrates adjustments due to natural variation are far less common, easier to make, and less noticeable to the flavor of the finished product.

Flexibility / Complexity

Natural juices from a particular plant species or region have a set, distinctive character. Blending juices from different species / regions can provide some flexibility or complexity of character but that can be operationally tedious and difficult to replicate from season to season. On the other hand, natural flavor concentrates can be created to provide a vast array of flavor profiles to suit various signature tastes.

Stability

The shelf life of natural fruit and vegetable juices are quite short. For instance, commercially canned or bottled apple juice may remain stable for a year or two at most, but once opened – even if refrigerated – have a shelf life of a few weeks at best. Other juices have comparable or shorter shelf lives no matter how they are processed. Most flavor concentrates have 1-2-year shelf lives at room temperature with the exception being flavors high in citrus oils, which have shelf lives much less than a year and should be refrigerated whenever possible.

Economy

The cost contribution of any ingredient to the final product is always a function of cost multiplied by use. For example, apple juice costing $0.55 per pound used in a beverage at 10% by weight would contribute $0.055 per pound of finished beverage. A natural apple flavor concentrate that costs $10.00 per pound used at 0.3% by weight of finished beverage would contribute comparable flavor impact but add only $0.03 per pound of finished beverage. This comparable cost-in-use benefit is generally one of the most valued advantages flavor concentrates have over natural juices.

Nutritional Value

Natural juices contain various healthful nutrients. For instance, apple juice contains Fiber, Sugar, Vitamins C & K, Potassium, etc., as well as 14 calories per 31 gram serving. Natural flavor concentrates contain very little, if any, nutritional value and, at normal use levels, contribute little to no calories to the finished product.

Market Perception

One of the distinct advantages that natural juices have over natural flavor concentrates is public or market perception. Though scientifically unharmful to humans, flavor concentrates made with GRAS listed ingredients are generally perceived as being not as “clean” or healthful as natural juices.

Conclusion

Though there are other differences between natural juices and flavor concentrates (ie. texture or mouthfeel, which only juices offer), these are the major ones. Actually, most beverages and foods that are characterized by fruits or vegetables often use both: a few percent of natural juices, top-noted by 0.3% or so of flavor concentrates. This combination often provides the best flavor profile-impact-economy proposition.

If you need help developing new beverages or optimizing the juice-to-flavor concentrate balance of existing products, let us know. We’d love to help. Our 4+ decades of experiences in NPD are often seen as a valuable well of wisdom and know-how. Best of all such, consultations are offered as a free service. If greater levels of a particular expertise are required during the process, abelei has a database of established, well-connected, trusted business partners with varying expertise to whom you can be referred. If you would like to speak with an abelei professional, please click the “Schedule A Call” button below to start the conversation.

Wishing you much success with your new product development projects!