News

Symrise gets millennials' perspective on vanilla

21 Sep 2017

With the help of young chefs and bartenders, Symrise says it has gained new perspectives on the queen of spices – vanilla.

With the help of young chefs and bartenders, Symrise says it has gained new perspectives on the queen of spices – vanilla. Together with six taste experts and influencers from the millennial generation, the global supplier of fragrances and flavours says it has developed ideas on how these new perspectives could be used in modern cuisine.

The millennial experts were recruited from all over the world. They included the head patissier from the Michelin Guide-recommended Chiltern Firehouse in London, a tea sommelier from Italy and a multi-award winning bartender from Australia.

The experts are said to be representative of the generation born between 1980 and 1998. About 118 million millennials live in the European Union and there are roughly two billion of them worldwide, Symrise notes. This generation is considered the first to be truly global. Modern technology connects them across borders and affordable travel opens the world to them – and also provides them with diverse taste horizons.

Working with the taste experts from Europe, Asia and Australia allows Symrise to better understand millennials and what motivates them, the company says, noting that the group is open to new flavours and tastes and enjoys experimenting with them. They like to eat and drink exceptional creations: things that appeal to all of the senses – in terms of their shape, colour and texture.

New trends, which primarily spread via social media, have an enormous impact on today’s 19 to 37-year-olds, Symrise believes. A growing focus for these culinary delights is an emphasis on healthy nutrition. The experts cooperating with Symrise have, the company says, developed attractive and tasty vanilla product ideas for their generation and the cuisine of the future.

The young specialists thought it was time to rediscover vanilla as a spice. The goal is to realise the full taste potential of the other ingredients – giving them real depth and unexpected complexity. Because vanilla brings both an earthy as well as a flowery basic note, it may thus replace black pepper in the kitchen and goes very well with salt, according to Symrise. Spices and salt together, pronounce a delicate sweetness in fish – for instance – or stimulate the sense of taste for umami if sprinkled over tomatoes. Salty vanilla also has a delicious impact on sweet dishes, the company continues. For instance, it is said to serve as an ideal counterpart to the tangy taste of chocolate, while its flowery notes complement the flavour of fruits, creams and puddings.

“This collaboration has underscored the diversity of vanilla for us,” said Yannick Leen, himself a millennial and also the Competency Director for Vanilla at Symrise. “We want to develop new, innovative, attractive and tasteful solutions from their ideas and offer corresponding extracts and aromas. We and our customers are so enthusiastic about the ideas that we will certainly continue this collaboration. Discovering new horizons, redefining and combining tastes, and creating inspiration – those are core competencies at Symrise.”