Kokumi enhances flavor, elevates chocolate beverages

We’ve all got a word that comes to mind when you think of a cocoa or chocolate beverage. Velvety, decadent, silky. Indulgent, rich, toasty. But there’s one word that underpins so much of what we crave about these beverages, and it’s one that many of us are unfamiliar with: kokumi.

The sensory perception of rich, distinctive flavors in cocoa and chocolate is primarily the result of roasting and fermentation steps during production. Over time, these processes develop compounds that form the complex, mouthcoating chocolatey flavor profile we have come to expect in quality chocolate and cocoa. Crucial among these substances are flavor-boosting kokumi compounds.

The compound behind distinctive, desirable taste

Kokumi refers to the sense of depth and complexity that is characteristic of savory foods and beverages. These types of compounds, which include gamma-glutamyl peptides, interact with calcium-sensing receptors on the tongue, affecting overall sensory activity in the mouth. Kokumi peptides intensify the perception of sweet, salty and savory flavors, and occur naturally in sources such as soy sauce, fish sauce, cheese and yeast.

In foods and beverages, kokumi compounds can greatly enhance the perception of complexity and quality in flavors that normally take a lot of time and work to achieve. Rather than an additional flavor, kokumi contributes a rounding out of strong flavors and contributes to a distinctive and desirable weight, texture and coating in the mouth — the reason we describe chocolate and cocoa as “creamy” or “velvety.” In taste tests, kokumi ingredients have been shown to contribute to a more full-bodied, flavorful experience without additional salt, sugar or fat.

Complex flavor development in chili, chocolate, cocoa

As a nonchocolate example, consider production for premium ready-to-eat (RTE) chili. Complex flavor development might require long hours of slow cooking, possibly even an overnight chill step, to form the kokumi compounds that make for a well-rounded, deeply flavorful bowl of chili. The cost and complexity of this kind of production greatly detract from the higher margins that a premium product can command. Kokumi ingredients can help to shorten timeframes and simplify production.

Chocolate has, and likely will always be, one of the world’s favorite flavors. It has a beautifully complex sensory profile that works as well in baked goods as it does in beverages. Kokumi ingredients provide beverage brands with tools to explore this space in a way that gives consumers an experience worthy of a premium price point. With kokumi, consumers get a higher-quality chocolate experience while manufacturers get to streamline and simplify what would otherwise be complex, low-volume production processes.

Now, consider the possibilities for kokumi in cocoa and chocolate-based beverages. Like chili, high-quality chocolate production has a lot of moving parts. Achieving a well-rounded flavor profile at scale involves roasting and fermentation steps, and a lot of time for flavor development. Fortunately, introducing kokumi ingredients to chocolate formulations improves perceptions of quality and can effectively recreate these higher-quality indicators in a lower-quality cocoa.

Adding kokumi ingredients is an excellent solution to balance flavor profiles that are imbalanced and peaky. In peanut butter flavors, the addition of kokumi brings out roasted and deeper peanut flavors. Kokumi helps to accentuate and balance these complex flavors with equally complex aromatic ingredients like citrus and vanilla.

Kokumi applications in beverage development

In beverage applications, kokumi imparts more than mouthfeel. In powdered hot cocoas, kokumi substances can be highly effective for increasing the perception of complexity and higher quality, and chocolate-flavored protein drinks take on a more umami-filled, mouthcoating quality.

Peanut butter with chocolate is another potential beverage flavor profile that is greatly enhanced by kokumi. Here, we have two distinct, very complex flavors. The addition of kokumi ingredients improves the experience of chocolate and brings out the savory, toasty notes of roasted peanuts. The result is a well-rounded combination of flavors perfect for shakes and smoothies. Kokumi brings out jammy and roasted notes in fruit and roasted berry flavors for another layer of complexity and sweetness. Think PB&J.

Or consider another pairing of complex flavors: coffee and dark chocolate. Each flavor contributes its own floral, bitter, roasted and astringent notes. Kokumi balances and brings together these disparate flavors, allowing them to co-exist in harmony in all their complexity on the consumer’s palate.