How Do Artificial Flavors Work?

Artificial flavors imitate natural flavors and are found in many processed products. Learn more about the chemistry of flavors, both natural and artificial, in this episode of BrainStuff.

Whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on the HowStuffWorks team to explore - and explain - the everyday science in the world around us on BrainStuff.

[gantmj]

Artificial tastes and scents have never worked on me. Most of the time, I just taste or smell weird chemicals that in no way resemble what they're supposed to be. I also get headaches from a lot of scented things. Sometimes I have to tell people to blow out their candles, because it's like a toxic cloud to me.

[HiAdrian]

I had always wondered about Juicy Fruit, good to know. I find Root Beer tastes somewhat similar, and that supposedly uses an artificial version of Safrole.

[Greynwolf]

About Juicy Fruit flavor, I don't remember where I heard it, but there's some kind of weird hairy fruit in Hawaii that tastes similar to juicy fruit.

[midwestchem]

A good one to discuss is benzaldehyde. Its in almond flavoring and it can give a nutty flavor but it smells like cherry with a hint of nutty flavor.

[sjw]

I am glad to hear that it wasn't all in my mind.  Taste and smell are interconnected.  I damaged my tongue, over 20 years ago when I almost bite off the tip in a car accident.  I have a very weak sour sensing tongue and my son turned me into his novelty act by having new friends give me super sour candies only to have me not react to them.  It then came to me that I don't have a strong sense of smell as people would complain about an odor or oh and ah about a fragrance and I would not know what they were referring to.  NOTE : it does NOT pay to curse someone out when they cut you off, cuz when you crash your tongue will be between your teeth and . . .  well you get the picture I am sure.  

[lucygrey]

nice vid, love the way you explain things... subscribed : )

[Beef]

That's not up to you to decide... but I agree with you, worth watching. All I can do though is recommend it!

[thedisplayname]

Haha- yeah, I saw the same thing. We've got another few videos from this session that may look the same, but in the future I'm going to get this fixed. Thanks for the feedback!

[centaviodehernandez]

Thank You I Always wanted to know how it works

[CoolDudeClem]

You'd think with all the technology we have now they could make an artificial flavor that tastes like orange, apple or whatever instead of just "generic fruit flavor". "orange" tastes exactly the same as "summer fruits" when synthetic flavors are used.

[TheWertMan]

That's actually a lie that juicy fruit gum is a made up flavor. I heard recently that they use jackfruit, which I tried today and, well, it tastes like juicy fruit gum.

[QUEENOBSCURE]

Well I’ve always known this that’s the reason why it’s so hard to taste flavors when you are sick, Or congested. But this makes me wonder now? Because sometimes when I get a Mc mocha frappe and fries at McDonald’s, After eating a french fry and washing it down with coffee it legit taste like I’m drinking alcohol

[chloegalaini]

Juicy fruit gum was actually inspired by a fruit that’s native to India and some areas around it. It’s called a “jack fruit” here but I’m not sure what they call it in India. I had the privilege of trying it a couple of times 😊 it is known to cause allergic reactions in some people though so proceed with some caution, but I do recommend giving it a try if the opportunity arises 😊

[thedisplayname]

Thanks for the feedback, shadowman818. This was from some old copy, and I was also disheartened when I saw the error. I'm hoping to tackle the sense of taste in another video, and to correct this oversight. People must know about umami! I appreciate your time, and will give our fellow YouTubers a shout-out when I correct this on air.

[ryanmiller]

I definitely know what you mean when artificial flavors don't exactly coincide with what they're trying to simulate. Four instance, chocolate flavored ready whip taste like gasoline. On the other hand, I found the best artificial chocolate simulation in Javalia's Chocolate Mocha. I thought it actually had real cocoa bean oil. But my sister pointed out that the bag said that it was artificially flavored. If that's the case, they did a damn good job of it.

[siggyretburns]

The reason I researched this is because I just bought a lipton peach flavored iced tea. I dont taste any tea in it, but they couldnt get a better match for the peach flavor. It taste exactly like a peach. Very tasty.
But...how did they do that? What exactly am I drinking anyways?

[HeartSunSoil]

In regards to juicy fruit gum, there actually is a fruit that tastes like it, and it's called jackfruit! Ripe jackfruit

[reesetyra]

Can you measure the mass of electricity? I mean, electrons have mass right? So they must have some sort of gravitational pull. But can we measure that? I also watched an experiment on Periodic Videos where they made liquid electrons by separating them from their elements in a specific experiment. So those electrons must have weighed something, but what? Anyways, I hope you'll take the time to answer and thanks for the great videos.

~Reese

[haonhaon]

You guys are awesome! Could you please do one on how microwaves work? Thanks!

[ImranZakhaev]

What about the classic bubble gum flavour? Is that based on a flavour?