Flavor Science: What's Really in a Pumpkin Spice Latte

If you take a look at an ingredients list, odds are you’ll find natural and artificial flavors somewhere in there. Turns out there’s a whole science to making your pumpkin spice latte taste like pumpkin spice, or your potato chips taste like pizza.

Hosted by: Michael Aranda

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Sources:
The science of flavor:
Vanillin:
Grapes:
MSG:
Pumpkin Spice:

[pouncebaratheon]

"Yeah, I'm a scientist."
"Oh awesome, so you get to mess with like lasers and telescopes?"
"Nah I just taste candy all day."

[drink]

Vanillin sounds like a delicious bad guy.

[TJStellmach]

That grape flavor is probably called "foxiness" because the Concord's wild ancestor is the fox grape, which tastes similar (only much more tart).

[Tomato]

Thanks for saying that water can be dangerous if too much is used. People too often forget about it when talking about lethal doses...

[Eban]

"Natural flavors" means "We did this the hard way".

[FunLand]

I just learned more in 7.5 minutes than I ever thought I would.

[Generalth]

Fascinating stuff! I've never given flavorists enough credit before. Next time I'm eating food, I'll definitely raise my glass to their incredible achievements!

[peytoncrochet]

This video will have millions of views by tomorrow

[ganaraminukshuk]

The one takeaway of this video should be: #EverythingIsChemicals

Water, your body, omega-3 fatty acids, raspberries... (Who remembers that line?)

[courtneystein]

I appreciate how you listed your sources. It lends credibility to your video. Enjoyed watching it. Take care.

[hibaalghol]

What's in a pumpkin spice latte: 98% sugar, 1% caffeine, 1% butter

[SuperNerd]

Wow, this is one of the most informative scishow videos for me. Pumpkin spice lattes are scientifically interesting, but still taste pretty shit to me

[MukaMoko]

So we are not eating pumpkin pies turned into liquid form?!

[chemnerd]

I have a test tomorrow on organic chemistry and this video brought up some the molecules we've spoken about in class. Vanillin and methyl anthrilate for example. So that gave me more of a background on some of the chemistry being involved here, only a bit, but a useful bit nonetheless.

[polaris]

cool video. I like that you kept a quick pace, made it easy to stay engaged

[jetjazz]

My college was next to a few wineries that grew concord grapes... my god. In the fall, the smell was amazing.

[BillyDrakePianoMan]

Well, this is actually pretty cool. I wanted this episode to go longer because I feel like there’s so much more to discuss about this.

[lemonadecupcakes]

It's strange how popular a spiced pumpkin smell is, as well. I can spray it in July and people will walk in commenting on how good it smells in the room, not even associating it with autumn. It seems to be universally loved.

[themotherbrassica]

Seems a shame that you didn't talk about sea vegetables or mushrooms, which are fantastic sources of savory "umami" (not to mention how MSG was discovered in the first place).

On the topic of pumpkin spice: This week I made some pumpkin spice syrup by putting the spices along with some pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and coconut milk into my slow cooker. Adding some of this into my coffee tastes so much better than anything from that particular coffee chain and is a real money saver. Plus I can add this syrup to my breakfast oatmeal for some extra tastiness :D

[RSP]

One of the best Youtube videos of the week.