Creating Flavors in Low Sodium Products
Not too long ago, products made for those individuals on specialty diets were a very small component of the foods industry. That’s changed. Now a large number of fat-free, low-calorie, and low sodium products line grocery store shelves. That’s great news for buyers, as maintaining a low sodium is necessary for maintaining certain problems (such as high blood pressure) and for others can prevent those problems for occurring. However, just because a food offers a better dietary outlook for buyers doesn’t mean they expect it to be any less flavorful than the other options available to them while shopping.
That means it’s important for flavorists to explore all their options when creating low sodium products such as snacks, soups, breads, and ready-made meals, just to name a few of the most common low sodium products. Salt is an important component of many different types of foods, not only because saltiness itself is so appealing as a flavor but because salt serves to unify the various flavors existing in a food product already.
Removing excessive saltiness from a product not only makes it bland, but can serve to hide the other existing flavors. That’s why it’s important to replace the missing salt with a flavor ingredient that can do that same job without boosting the sodium content of a product. While that may seem easier said than done, plenty of flavorists are finding that by embracing the concept of “umami” it is more than possible.
Umami of course refers to the fabled additional taste. It’s best defined as “savory”, though that only somewhat captures what exactly umami is. The best example of it is the flavor of soy sauce, which is rich, inviting, and – yes – salty. However, the saltiness of soy sauce only plays a small role in the sensation of umami that one has while tasting it.
Whether in potato chips, snack crackers, a sauce for a ready-made food or a soup, flavors that produce the feeling of umami are one of the best possible options for creating delicious low sodium dishes. Flavors that have a strong savory component, such as Advanced Biotech’s Natural Savory Complex, serve to boost the sensation of umami, and therefore easily replace what’s missing when you cut the sodium out of a food product.