{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Startup CPG Podcast","title":"R&D RADIO: Natural Flavors and Taste Modulation with Lauren Senne of Imbibe","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1704,"description":"\nIn this episode of R&D RADIO, host and food scientist Adam Yee sits down with Lauren Senne, Senior Manager of Applications and Taste Modulation at Imbibe, a drink consultancy in Chicago, to break down the real difference between characterizing flavors and taste modulation. Lauren has spent over a decade at Imbibe and more than 13 years in the flavor industry, and is a certified flavor chemist through the Society of Flavor Chemists, a certification process that takes a minimum of seven years and, realistically, closer to a decade to complete.\n\nAdam and Lauren dig into how bitter blockers actually work at the receptor level, why describing something as simple as \"cherry\" or \"vanilla\" can mean wildly different things to different clients, and what really happens to a product's mouthfeel and flavor balance when sugar gets pulled from a formula. They also get into why flavor houses guard their formulations as trade secrets and the clean-label trends reshaping the beverage world right now.\n\nListen in as they discuss:\n\nWhat flavor actually is, and the difference between characterizing flavor and taste modulation\nThe rigorous, decade-long path to becoming a certified flavor chemist through the Society of Flavor Chemists\nWhat the certification exam actually tests, including identifying chemicals by smell alone\nHow flavorists learn the natural chemical building blocks behind fruit, spice, and other flavor profiles\nWhy aligning on something as simple as \"cherry\" or \"vanilla\" can be surprisingly difficult with clients\nUsing reference products and live tastings to get everyone in the room aligned on a flavor direction\nHow bitter blockers work by binding to bitter receptors so your brain can't perceive the bitterness at all\nWhy most of Imbibe's taste modulation work is exclusively natural\nWhere CPG founders commonly get stuck: stacking too many functional ingredients and creating unexpected off-notes\nWhat happens to mouthfeel and sweetness curve when sugar is removed and...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/pMuUaMpWaAi3tfCEgC2OkLBVzokuLjLsIzwDIbGFqi4/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9hMTFl/MTgxNTNlZTAwZjU1/ZmNmNWM1ZjkwMDg5/NTU4MS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}