Packaged baked goods such as snack crackers may seem like incredibly simple products to develop, but they can be surprisingly complex. Part of the challenge is attempting to formulate flavors that will stand up to being packaged, boxed up, shipped, and placed on store shelves. This is true whether a snack cracker is going to be flavored with other seasonings, herbs, or powders, or whether the flavorist simply wants to enhance the natural flavors of the grains in the cracker itself.
It is important to choose the right flavor ingredients to enhance the flavors of these products, even for plain versions of crackers that will receive no other flavoring. This process of picking the right flavors begins with thinking about the types of grains that will be used in the cracker itself. Each type of grain and flour has different qualities that a flavorist may either want to enhance or mask through the use of additional flavor ingredients.
This can be especially important considering the growing importance of specialty baked good products, such as those made with gluten-free materials and those that use a healthier variety of whole grains. One of the most important steps in helping to create the flavors of these types of products is ensuring a full flavor profile. Natural vanillin can pull together the various natural notes of a flavor.
Honey is another flavor ingredient that can provide delicious sweet notes to a cracker product. While crackers are not as sweet as packaged baked goods such as cookies, honey can help to bring out the natural flavors of the grains in the cracker. In addition, flavor ingredients that can add a honey note to a product, such as natural ethyl cinnamate, can help to emphasize its savory qualities.
Even when additional flavor ingredients are also being used, such as to produce a cheese flavor or an herbal flavor, it is still important to think about the qualities of the cracker itself. For example, the type of cheese flavor that a product will use may depend on whether the cracker has a lighter, naturally buttery flavor, or whether a sweeter cheese flavor may be needed to work with a heavier wheat cracker.
Flavor ingredients may also act to help balance out the natural flavor of a cracker with the additional flavor ingredients that are being added into its composition. Buttery notes can help to create a refreshing, light flavor, while creamy notes can add the perfect base for herbaceous flavor ingredients. Other options include roast notes, savory notes, and the like, which can help to create a full-bodied flavor that works especially well with darker grains and wheat.
There are an incredible number of options available and, surprisingly, even a plain baked product can provide a flavorist with a lot of room to experiment with different flavor options. Especially now, as sweet and savory flavor combinations are increasing in popularity, there are many ways to create new flavors with a classic baked good product.