This robust understanding of the plant-based market allows Symrise to build an extensive plant-based portfolio with options for all segments of consumers in the EAME market:

• Consumers are looking for a real dairy experience with authentic taste and texture. Also, one product hardly fits all customers. The differences between customers divides into a number of segments.

• The current market fails to fulfill consumer expectations in terms of taste. Because plant-based sources come with their own unique characteristics that influence flavor and texture.

• Key flavors on the plant-based dairy market comprise predominately of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Red berry and tropical flavors are coming up too.

Solutions and approaches to masking for plant-based dairy alternatives

Originating from the source plant material, plant-based products often come with adverse off-notes, off-taste and texture. Every source plant type (i.e., soy, oat, bean) brings different challenges. Proteins like soy, pea, and beans typically contain off-notes like bitterness and astringency. Cereal proteins, such as oat, rice, and wheat typically contain cereal notes or bitterness. Nuts like almond, coconut and hazelnut feature an intrinsic nut-taste and can hinder flavor performance with their high fat content. To further complicate matters, the processing methods used can also result in off-notes and unwanted properties in the base.

Every plant source type brings different challenges:

• Legumes: off notes (volatiles) from protein content

• Cereals: Astringency and base not from base complexity

• Nuts: Strong base flavor from fat content

Learn more about Plant Protein Sources