What Is Bubblegum Flavor Anyway?

Many foods have natural or artificial flavorings added -- but what does 'bubblegum' represent? Learn about scent, taste, and the flavor industry in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/does-bubblegum-flavor-represent-something-the-natural-world.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Lauren vogle Bam here ask someone to describe bubble gum flavor,
and most likely that person will be at a loss
for words other than you know bubblegum. Unlike other flavorings,
bubblegum is a mixture of volatile compounds, which are types

(00:24):
of compounds that evaporate and have odors. Here in the
United States, some flavorings are considered natural, a meaning that
they're made from plant or animal sources, including being grown
using microbes and labs. Other flavorings are considered artificial. Those
are made by chemically or mechanically synthesizing compounds in labs.

(00:45):
Though artificial flavorings can be molecularly identical to natural flavorings.
But there's no bubblegum, plant or animal. So what is
this flavor based on? More on that in a second,
because first we need to understand how flavor works, and
to understand how flavor works, we have to realize why

(01:06):
our sense of taste and smell work together and how
the two are so intertwined. Basically, molecules released by foods
stimulate nerve cells in the nose, mouth, and throat, which
transmit messages to the brain where specific smells or tastes
are identified. All factory cells, that is sent nerve cells

(01:27):
are stimulated by odors. Augustatory or taste. Nerve cells are
clustered in the five to ten thousand taste buds of
the mouth and throat, and they react to the foods
we eat. The difference between the two senses is that
taste focuses on distinguishing just five flavors sweet, salty, sour, bitter,
and savory, which is sometimes called umami. But our nose

(01:50):
can detect an astounding one trillion different odors, and so
it's the interactions between our senses of taste and smell
to create the flavors we know. For the article, this
episode is based on How Stuff Work. Spoke by email
with Bob Boutine, president of Nectal Incorporated and Bentley Specialties Incorporated,
who's been working in flavor innovation for a long time.

(02:13):
His company develops candies and snacks for some of the
world's largest food companies. He said artificial flavors are a
combination of chemicals put together to mimic the ingredients seen
in the natural flavor. A good flavorist is very skilled
at sensing and tasting these various flavor compounds. Once a
flavorist identifies those compounds, Boutine explains, they can create a

(02:37):
similar flavor with either the same compounds or a mixture
of compounds that our senses identify similarly. It's complicated because
foods are complex. For example, more than two hundred and
fifty volatile components have been identified in the standard variety
of banana that you can buy in most American grocery stores,

(02:58):
and that's only one type of banana. The artificial banana
flavoring that's added to some candies may be based on
an older variety of banana that isn't available anymore, called
the grow Michelle, which maybe why artificial banana flavoring doesn't
taste like banana to us today. But anyway, back to bubblegum,

(03:18):
a bubblegum flavor is absolutely made up, Boutine said. Bubblegum
flavor is a strawberry banana punch type of flavor. It
was created to appeal to the children's market as well
as some adults. It gives long lasting flavor and chemically
does well in the chewing gums formulation. Today, there are
so many different flavors of bubblegum on the market that

(03:40):
one exact recipe simply doesn't exist. But one thing we
do know is that the first bubblegum was accidentally created
by one Walter Dimer for the Fleer Corporation in Philadelphia.
In he's credited with the indescribable bubblegum flavor that we
know today and for making the gum pink because that
was the only food coloring he happened to have on hand.

(04:04):
So bubble gum flavor is a sort of fruit punch.
Different flavoring manufacturers these days all have their own formulas,
which can include everything from the standard strawberry banana to
other fruits, to spices and other seasonings like cinnamon, cloves, vanilla,
and winter green. Buttine explained, I'm not sure it's specific
to anyone flavor, but rather a blending of several a banana, strawberry, cherry,

(04:28):
a little orange, and or lemon. The exact ratios are
specific to each company. Some want it to be more banana,
others more strawberry ish. Perhaps the only consensus is that
the flavor is fruity. Will buy that today's episode is

(04:49):
based on the article What's the de old Bubblegum Flavor
on house stuffworks dot Com written by Sarah Glme. Brain
Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with
house stuff works dot Com, and it is produced by
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