Back to the Natural

The aroma wafts from the spicy pictures on the pages and the flavours in them awaken memories of grandmother’s kitchen.As you leaf through the book ‘Natural Food Flavors and Colorants’ by Mathew Attokaran, you learn the subtleties of each natural flavour and colorant used to enrich food in the days of yore to make it more tasty and attractive. After all food is first eaten by the eye.A technical book meant for researchers and those in the food industry, the chapters explore the history and chemistry of natural taste and colour giving ingredients in an interesting way with details of how they are manufactured, their quality and linkage to the food regulatory body.The book assumes significance in an age when the craze for synthetic flavours and colorants is dying due to their carcinogenic and toxic effects and most food industries are opting for the natural.Natural flavours and colorants are extracted mainly from spices, citrus, vegetables and fruit. Over 80 plants have been discussed and  among them the majority are spices that can be used for both natural flavours and colours. Mathew has introduced them in interesting ways. The introductory note to each spice or herb has anecdotes narrating the origin of the plant materials and their uses. The romance of rosemary, the legends related to thyme, the glory of the bay leaf or laurel, the discovery of nutmeg, the reaction of the tongue at the mention of tamarind or garcinia. Their medicinal properties also surface, how each ingredient when used in small quantities every day can prevent many a disease. Now that ayurveda is much sought after and aroma therapy is gaining ground the essential oils obtained from the plant materials find their way into therapies.As for citrus only the peel is used to make essential oils. The freshness of lime and lemon and the various products made from them are proof of their value. As for colours vegetables, fruit and even the marigold flower are made use of. Colour is obtained mainly from paprika, turmeric that is abundant in India and annatto which gives branded butter its rich colour.  Diary products use only natural colour and annatto comes to their aid. Grape is a rich source of colour. After the essence is taken, a rich colour can be obtained from its skin. The colour form marigold is used in chicken feed.  Before the advent of the new-age hens, the birds pecked food as they wandered which had enough colorant to give the yoke its yellow hue. Nowadays when hens are spoon fed, their yolk might be white unless the chicken feed is coloured.  Another rich source of flavour and colorant from the beverage family - coffee, tea and cocoa. Cocoa leaf contains cocaine and Kola nut is a stimulant which when chewed satiates hunger (now you know how Cocoa-Cola came into being). In olden days slaves were fed kola.  All the flavours come under the true flavours sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Two chapters delve into the future of natural flavours and colorants wherein many products in India are rich resources. Arecanut, slaked lime that gives the red colour to betel leaf when chewed with areca, berries and  wood of many trees are potential flavours and colorants, a according to Mathew. With nearly 50 years of experience Mathew has carried out research in food science and technology in CMFRI, Mysore and RRL Thiruvananthapuram, before moving to industry. Many of his findings have been developed into technology.He has led the Indian delegation for International Standards Organisation committee meetings on spices and condiments held in Hungary and France in the 1980s. He served as president of Essential Oils Association of India for two terms. This Kochi-based scientist has travelled widely across the globe and has completed short-term missions in three United Nations Agencies for the Food and Agricultural Organization of UN, Rome, The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, Vienna, and International Trade Centre of the UN and WTO, Geneva.Earlier Mathew had written a book on spices which got a good response. The pictures in it are also by Salim Pushpanath. He works as technical director of Plant Lipids Ltd. The 429-page book published for IFT by Wiley-Blackwell, priced at $230, was released  recently.