What Role Does Color Play in Our Perception of Food Taste?
Would M&Ms taste the same if they were gray? Science says no. The color of your food is much more important than you think. Since the beginning, people have used color to distinguish between fresh and spoiled food. In nature, the color of fruits and vegetables directly contributes to their flavor. While the same is not always true for processed food, its color is still fundamental.
Color Creates Taste Expectations
When it comes to food colors, people eat with their eyes. Our sense of vision is designed to help us pick out the best, most nutritious produce from nature. More importantly, it gives us an indication of how something might taste. As we grow up, we learn that red fruits are sweet and green veggies are bitter. When our expectations are not met, we are disappointed.
A study1 in the Journal of Food Science found that people struggle to identify the flavor of colorless soda, for example. Sodas that were orange were perceived as orange flavored, even when they were cherry or lime flavored. This perception illustrates the psychological power of color and how it affects people’s idea of food.
Color and Culture
Not everyone sees color the same way. One’s cultural background impacts how they perceive reds, greens, yellows, and blues. For example, an English study2 on color and flavor interactions found that participants from the UK and Taiwan had entirely different expectations for the flavor of a blue drink. British participants expected it to be raspberry-flavored, while Taiwanese participants expected it to be mint-flavored.
Colors are also deeply connected to language and tradition. They have different connotations to different groups of people and, as such, create different flavor associations. Understanding the cultural background of your customer base becomes crucial in food coloring choices.
Using Color to Alter Taste Perceptions
The relationship between color and flavor is not unknown to food manufacturers. Producers have relied on food coloring since the dawn of edible dyes, many of which are still in circulation today. Besides the obvious applications, like soda, cereal, and candy, food coloring can also find its way into “natural” foods.
- Salmon – wild salmon is pink because of an antioxidant it consumes called astaxanthin. On farms, many fish have a white or gray color instead. To rectify this, farmers often feed the fish artificially-colored food.
- Trail mix – some ingredients in trail mix may be dyed with natural or synthetic food colorings. This practice is especially true for dried fruits like papaya and apricot, which would otherwise turn brown after drying.
- Oranges – farmers often spray oranges with a citrus dye to give them a more appealing color. The dyes they use are FDA-approved, however, they are not allowed for organic oranges. Farmers typically only do this when the orange skins are too green.
Coloring Food the Natural Way
The importance of color in the food industry cannot be overstated. At the same time, people are increasingly wary of artificial additives and synthetic dyes. Instead, there has been a considerable shift towards natural and sustainable food colorings made from plant-based ingredients.
Not only does this option allow for bright rainbow colors, but it also returns essential nutrients to processed foods. For example, using turmeric for its yellow pigment injects healthful phytonutrients into the food, which can protect against chronic inflammation.
Advanced Biotech is a trusted supplier of natural flavorings and colorings for the food and beverage sector. For more information about our premium range, please contact us.
1 https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1993.tb09364.x
2 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810009001342