Artificial Essence- How it is made?

Q. What is the essence that is used in ice cream, fruit juice, and soft drinks? Is it bad for health?

There are two types of the essence:

• Natural &

• Artificial (synthetic)

the taste and smell of natural essence are thankful for the ‘essential oil’ contained in plants. It can be found in any part of the plants. There are no fixed rules or standards. For example, an oily distillate of vanilla is in the vanilla pods and seeds, the maximum distillate of orange occurs in orange peel, in the case of pineapple it's in the fruit itself.

It is possible to use this natural essence in the making of soft drinks, chewing gums, ice cream, etc., however from a business point of view not practical; as it is very costly. 

For example, the producer uses the natural essence of orange because the orange peel has no other use. But in the case of mango, the mango peel is useless as the essence is in the fruit itself. So, in order to get some essence, it is costly to wipe off the entire fruit.

In these circumstances, the other option is inevitable.

Synthetic: means artificial flavor was first invented by two expert chemists named Friedrich Wilhelm Haarmann and Ferdinand Tiemann of Germany. (picture below)

Haarmann

Tiemann

They figure out the basic chemical composition behind the unique taste and smell of vanilla essence. 
The composition is (C₈ G₈ O₃). 

After that, they created a molecule structure containing 8 Carbon, 8 Hydrogen, and 3 Oxygen molecule. (Picture below)

In the twentieth century, chemists made other artificial essences like mint and lemon. In the food world, the use of synthetic essence is huge.

Is it bad for health? 

It is not bad for health; on the contrary, it should be considered a safer option than natural essence for two reasons:

The first is that the fruits like grapes and strawberries are smeared with pesticides. The poisonous elements of pesticides dissolve in fruit juices and contaminate them. 

Second one is that some plants produces “alkaloids”/ poisonous element in order to protect itself from the insects and herbivorous. These poisonous elements are automatically left out when making artificial essence.

However, such synthetic flavors also have other sides of the coin. These flavors produce an effect that is known as “kick” in Food Technology. 

The effect felt on the tongue reaches the brain and triggers the urge to keep on eating flavored food. This effect is considered the big reason for obesity in the United States.