Choosing Flavor Ingredients for Ramen
Since instant ramen became a college food staple, the ramen trend has exploded. Year over year, the popularity of ramen continues to increase as well as its variations. Ramen broth can be made for noodles, meat, and veggies. From traditional salt flavored broths such as Shio, and old Shoyu to more experimental creations, there are an incredible number of these products that are open for experimentation and production.
When it comes to the ramen broth, it is easy to know what flavor ingredients to choose. It is typically made from chicken or pork bones or a combination of the two. In some recipes the addition of dried salted tuna or diried salted anchovies, which can be created using Advanced Biotech’s fishy flavors create a purer clear broth. However, this is just the starting point – from here, even the flavors can range wildly.
One of the more difficult tasks in custom flavor creation is replicating the taste of freshly made sauces in a powdered form. For example, a pre-packed meal with a powdered sauce mix may use seafood flavor ingredients, savory flavor ingredients, onion flavor ingredients, and other additives to create the fuller complex flavor of Miso. Depending on the type of soup flavor the creation team is trying to replicate, there are a number of meaty and savory flavors that can go into its creation.
When it comes to hot and spicy sauces, the difficulty sometimes lies in getting the right amount of spice mixed with sweet or savory components to create the exact flavor that is needed for the product. It is important to choose the right kind of spiciness depending on the type of sauce being created – the heat used in Asian cuisine is generally different than the type of heat one would expect to find in Mexican cuisine, for example.
The base is generally the most important flavor ingredient for creating ramen. The type of base that will be chosen largely depends on the type of flavor type it will be used to create. Ramen for meats tend toward being a bit more on the savory side, while those for seafood may have a strong fish base.
As the consumer base becomes more experimental with the types of sauces that they enjoy, there is much more room for innovation in the foods industry. Ethnic foods, for example, are becoming increasingly popular. That means that there is a lot more room to explore different flavor options. Whether a company is looking to create all-natural broth with extracts for home cooking, or for dietary foods that are healthy as well as flavorful, it is not difficult to find the right ingredients.