Why do strawberry flavoured food items not taste anything like actual strawberries?

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prustage@reddit

If you think thats weird then think of a tomato. Go on, think of a good fresh English tomato. Slice it and eat it. Now what the hell has that flavour got to do with "tomato soup"?

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Sparkina1967@reddit

Cooked tomatoes do have kind of a different flavor than raw ones.

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Cautious_Frosting_24@reddit

Problem there is unless you know someone with a greenhouse who grows actual real tomatoes you never get to taste real tomato. Just crunchy red water.

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Sgt_Fox@reddit

If you sprinkle a little salt on sliced tomato it will taste more tomato-y. Doing the same with watermelon makes it more watermelon-y also.

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Cautious_Frosting_24@reddit

Yeah you just invented seasoning.

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Sgt_Fox@reddit

It's chemistry, you can't add salt to just anything to make it taste more like itself. A pinch will take the bitterness out of coffee, though 👉👉

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Wait until you make a strawberry milkshake out of real strawberries by blending strawberries, cream, milk, sugar and a dash of vanilla. You’ll suddenly think all those strawberry flavoured products actually do taste just like your milkshake!

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lonelygayPhD@reddit

Two years late, but I was thinking the same thing. I couldn't believe how much it tasted like artificial strawberries.

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Ok_Shopping_3341@reddit

For me it’s cherry. I love the actual fruits, but anything cherry ‘flavoured’ tastes like almonds to me.

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Nihil_00_@reddit

This surprises me. I remember tasting cherries for the first time and spitting it out because it tasted exactly like cherry cough medicine 😭

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Flyawaylittlemonkey@reddit

Ah that makes sense. I love cherry flavoured things but not real cherries. But I'm a huge fan of almonds and marzipan.

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Different_Ad7655@reddit

And that's due to the pit..

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BulkyPerformance6290@reddit

Which contains a tiny amount of arsenic, which can smell like almond. But not everyone can smell it

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Different_Ad7655@reddit

I didn't know that but I know they contain prussic acid and cyanide

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The_Queef_of_England@reddit

i think they've confused cyanide and arsenic.

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BulkyPerformance6290@reddit

You are correct, I got the wrong poison!

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phoebsmon@reddit

Cyanide is almond-y. Iirc prussic acid is bleach-y. Like more swimming pool than toilet cleaner, but still. I've heard of arsenic having a smell but only under certain circumstances so that might be nonsense. For a fun arsenic fact though, it was used as a recreational drug by some Victorians. Best be careful though, or [your lass will murder you and you'll get pinned as Jack the Ripper](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Maybrick)

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PooleyX@reddit

If you've ever eaten a [Maraschino cherry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maraschino_cherry) (the preserved fruit that people have on a stick in a drink), it's that flavour. As you say, tastes of marzipan / almond. I also *love* cherries but I would imagine the flavour is probably too subtle to flavour other things.

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violentcrapper@reddit

Strawberries don’t taste like strawberries

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Bri-ish_Goose@reddit

I don't understand what you mean by this, could you explain?

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SKYLINEBOY2002UK@reddit

i like banana flavoured stuff, but not actual bananas

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Different-Jelly-5634@reddit

So true. I cannot stand artificially strawberry flavoured things. Makes me feel nauseous. I don’t know how anyone can like them but they are still making it so people who love it must exist.

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humanofsf@reddit

The ethers we know of as flavoring were made in the 1800s. They matched what fruits at those times tasted like. But many have died off (banana) or become unpopular (concord grapes aren’t common anymore) so the flavors don’t match as perfectly.

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DaZhuRou@reddit

Because everything tastes like chicken

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OtherwiseInflation@reddit

I bought strawberries in Scotland that did taste of strawberry flavoured sweets. They tasted nothing like the strawberries I've bought in England.

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Ok_Profile9400@reddit

Stop eating the lube.

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jimmykicking@reddit

Because real strawberries taste really bad. I used to to grow a wild variety of strawberry. Much smaller. But when you allow them rippen on the stalk and eat them fresh, that is what strawberries taste like. A shop bought strawberry has less flavour than a cucumber 🥒

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sir_squidz@reddit

this! Most folk have never tried a wild/alpine strawberry and it's chalk and cheese to a store bought, over large water bag strawberry. good strawberry flavourings, taste like wild strawberry and nothing like those from a supermarket

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yonthickie@reddit

How about a freshly picked but cultivated one? Really different from one that has been hanging around for a day or two.

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sir_squidz@reddit

Agreed, so much better than most store bought, but still not like the "punch in the face" of the "wild" strawberry (wild in quotes as it's a variety rather than a method of cultivation)

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yonthickie@reddit

Agreed, but they are so unavailable in large amounts, at least where I am.

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sir_squidz@reddit

That's the sad thing about them :-(

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fantasy53@reddit

Strawberry ice cream is the worst, it tastes like medicine!

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TheSingleLocus@reddit

Strawberries have never tasted like much of anything to me. The outer skin has a kind of slightly bitter taste, and the inside just tastes like mildly sweetened water. So I'm kind of glad that strawberry flavouring doesn't taste like the real thing.

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MuchMenu2417@reddit

They always stink too! I cannot stand the smell of strawberry flavour things!

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Wizards_Win@reddit

The reason why flavourings are a bit naff is often due to allergies. You can't just put the actual thing in, you're trying to avoid killing certain people so you can't do that, so they do their best to recreate it so those people can safely enjoy it.

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YchYFi@reddit

I always go for raspberry over strawberry if available.

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steeplebush@reddit (OP)

This is the way

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OkTry4424@reddit

I'd be interested to know, because that banana flavour that is so common does taste like bananas, just a breed of banana that is no longer in major use. Same with strawberries maybe?

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Tuarangi@reddit

There is [some suggestion](https://gizmodo.com/debunking-the-myth-of-the-fake-banana-flavor-1629459201) that the banana story isn't entirely accurate

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wotsitsarepleasing@reddit

A lot of flavours don’t taste like the actual fruit but definitely do taste like the fruit once it’s been processed. Place near me does a delicious strawberry sorbet made with no strawberry ‘flavour’, just the fruit. And it absolutely does taste like the strawberry flavouring. So does strawberry jam if you taste it by itself. Same with banana. I’m confused by the comments saying the flavour tastes like a now extinct banana, because once you turn a ripe banana into banana bread or a banana smoothie, it definitely tastes like what ‘banana flavouring’ tastes like.

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Viazon@reddit

I don't know, but it tastes better than actual strawberries.

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Ok-Phrase-2093@reddit

I used to work for a company that made ice cream. They wanted to make more environmentally sustainable rhubarb and strawberry ice creams. So they invested a lot of money in growing rhubarb and strawberries in their own greenhouses. The ice cream produced using fresh ingredients did not taste anything like strawberry or rhubarb. Blind taste tests confirmed this. The compact went back to using artificial flavourings. Tl;dr - people are so used to artificial flavourings that the real thing doesn't taste anywhere near as good.

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ouzo84@reddit

So a friend of mine recently returned from Japan and brought a whole load of mini kitkats with lots of unusual (for the uk) flavours. I’ll be damned if the strawberry ones don’t taste exactly like strawberries.

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randomjak@reddit

My dad used to work in the food industry and a lot of the time it’s because they don’t have a very convincing flavour that actually tastes like the real thing - but they’ve found things that are “nice” in their own right that have been widely used enough that people make the association with the fruit anyway. The example my dad gave was actually chocolate orange - apparently the orange flavour is nothing like orange in reality, but it tastes nice and people have made the association

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fannykneck@reddit

Same reason banana and vanilla don't It's flavoring

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Aid_Le_Sultan@reddit

That’s because artificial vanilla is decreased from the castor gland of a beaver which is just a whisker away from their anal glands. Yum yum.

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Low_Cartographer2944@reddit

Some small percentage, yes, but hardly any is produced and a lot goes to the fragrance industry. So odds are artificial vanilla you are buying isn’t from a beaver’s bum. But I prefer actual vanilla extract anyway.

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Far_Asparagus1654@reddit

Most vanilla is from the plant but there is indeed vanilla from beaver arse cream.

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TheStatMan2@reddit

Arse whiskers?

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SurprisedCoot23@reddit

Banana flavoured stuff did taste like bananas just the type of banana died off.

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AOCismydomme@reddit

[Apparently that’s mostly a myth](https://gizmodo.com/debunking-the-myth-of-the-fake-banana-flavor-1629459201)

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Aid_Le_Sultan@reddit

Someone’s been paying attention when listening to No Such Thing As A Fish/QI.

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CoolRanchBaby@reddit

There was a Radiolab episode about this many years ago too.

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druscarlet@reddit

So true. Love fresh strawberries but strawberry flavor foods - yuck.

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Gosha1234@reddit

Now take a look at the ingredients you might find in a fast-food strawberry milkshake: milkfat and nonfat milk, sugar, sweet whey, high-fructose corn syrup, guar gum, monoglycerides and diglycerides, cellulose gum, sodium phosphate, carrageenan, citric acid, E129 and artificial strawberry flavour. And what does that "artificial strawberry flavour" contain? Just these few yummy chemicals: amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphrenyl- 2-butanone (10% solution in alcohol), ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, undecalactone, vanillin and solvent. https://amp.theguardian.com/news/2006/apr/24/food.foodanddrink

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skipperseven@reddit

And below are the “ingredients” of an actual, natural strawberry… when you just list them like this it hardly seems healthy either: INGREDIENTS: AQUA (90.9%), SUGARS (4.9%) (FRUCTOSE (50%). GLUCOSE (41%), SUCROSE (9%)), FIBRE E460 (2.0%), ASH, FATTY ACIDS (<1%) (OMEGA-6 FATTŸ ACID: OCTADECADIENÓIC ACID (42%), OMEGA-3 FATTY ACID: OCTADECAENOIC ACID OCTADECATRIENOIC ACID (20%), HEXADECANOIC (31%), ACID (6%), OCTADECANOIC ACID (1%), HEXADECAENOIC ACID (<1%)), AMINO ACIDS (<1%) (ASPARTIC ACID (26%), GLUTAMIC ACID (17%), LEUCINE PROLINE VINSE, SERINE SINE, TUROSNE NE S.* A REONINE (59%). ISOLEUCINE (3%), PHENYLALANINE (3%), VALINE (3%), HISTIDINE (2%).TRYPTOPHAN (1%), CYSTINE (1%), METHIONINE (<1%)), PRESERVATIVES (E236, E296) COLOURS (E160a, E161b, E161c, E140, E161d, E161e, E161g, E161h) E300, E307, FOLATE, CHOLINE, BETAINE, PHITOSTEROLS, FLAVOURS (2,5-DIMETHYL-4-HYDROXY-2H-FURAN-3-ONE, 2,5-DIMETHYL-4-METHOXY-2H-FURAN-3-ONE, GAMMA DECALACTONE, GAMMA-DODECALACTONE. HYDROXY METHYL-FURFURAL, LIMONENE, 2-FURFURAL, 5-LINALOOL (E)-NEROLIDOL, E1510, HEXANOL, OCTANOL, METHYL BUTANOATE ETHYL BUTANOATE, METHYL HEXANOATE, ETHYL HEXANOATE, ETHANOATE, (E)-2-HEXEN-1-YL ETHANOATE, BUTYL ETHANOATE, METHYL OCTANOATE, ETHYL OCTANOATE, OCTYL-2-METHYL BUTANOATE. OCTYL HEXANOATE, DECYL BUTANOATE, DECYL ETHANOATE, METHANETHIOL, ETHYL 3-METHYLBUTANOATE, GERANIOL, E210, FARNESYL ACETATE, MESIFURANE, METHYL ANTHRANILATE GAMMA-DECALACTONE METHIONAL, DIMETHOXYMETHANE, 1-BUTOXY-1-ETHOXYETHANE), 2-14-HYDROXYPHENYL)-ETHYLBETA-D GLUCOPYRANOSIDE.

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JBEqualizer@reddit

I wouldn't recommend using a 17 year old article for reference purposes.

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potato_merchant@reddit

It is particular to strawberries. There are a lot of e numbers or flavourings that make up specific flavours of an item, a long ingredients list if you will. Strawberries have their own list, however they have a sigular specific e number which is particularly Strawberryish. This is used in isolation to flavour fake Strawberry items. Other flavourings typically need a specific concoction of e numbers to make up their flavours.

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SquidsAlien@reddit

They're generally "strawberry flavour" not "strawberry flavoured" - the latter must contain actual strawberries, but the further needn't.

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FinalLifeguard8353@reddit

Most flavours don't taste exactly like the source, especially fruit because generally they have a rather mild flavour. Any baker will tell you adding fruits to something alone doesn't make things taste the way they do, it's the salt and the sugar and other ingredients that do the leg work. Grape is a particular flavour that is never replicated well

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The-Vision@reddit

Because they're artificial foor flavours if you want strawberries , buy strawberries is my suggestion.

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