Serving our customers for over 35 years

Flavor Concentrates

Best Flavors has specialized in custom-made natural and organic flavors for the food and beverage industry for over 30 years. We make all of our natural flavors from scratch from our huge library of raw materials. There is no middle man. We make custom flavors in our factory here in California the way our customers like them - fresh and on time. Some flavor companies make their flavors up in advance and store them on the shelves for many months before they are sold. At Best Flavors, we believe the customer's flavors should be made fresh every time, so it will taste better and last longer in your cupboard. We currently make over 8,000 different flavors and are adding more all the time. If you don't see the flavor you want, just let us know and we can make it for you!

Natural flavors are made from plant materials, and so variations can occur from season to season. If you are buying a flavor that is to be used year-round, let us know and we can tailor a plan that will ensure the least amount of variation from order to order. Natural flavors come in many styles, colors, forms, and concentrations. Test the flavor out and ask for assistance if you need help to determine a starting point for your application. A good rule for starting usage is .25% and up. Remember, the natural flavor has an optimal usage, and getting to that point is more art than science.

Never over-flavor your application! Here are a few rules for starting to flavor a product. Start with a small amount such as a .25% up to 1% of your vanilla extract or flavor. Taste the vanilla flavor in the finished dough or ice cream. If the flavor tastes good and goes away after 3 to 5 seconds, it's perfect. If this is a baked product and it has not yet been baked, you will need to add 10% more to compensate for the loss during baking.

When making and freezing ice cream, it is possible the flavor will become diluted when air is whipped into the ice cream, so you may need to add more flavor to the ice cream mix. If at any time you notice a minty taste on your palate or a medicinal taste, you have over-flavored your product. If you are burping the vanilla flavor up an hour or more after you have eaten the finished product then you have probably over flavored the product. The trick to making a product taste good is to give just enough flavor to tease the taste buds, without overdoing it.

Best Flavors' Flavor Concentrates are our most widely-used flavors and are best used in any water-based situation. Add a few drops to your ice cream to create a truly mouth-watering treat. You could also add a few drops to your cooking or to any beverage to enhance its flavor! If you're only getting one type of product, this is the one to get.

New to custom flavoring? You may find the following recipe useful:

Begin with 8 ounces of water, add 4 to 8 drops of50% Citric Acid Solution. Taste for proper acidity (orange or apple = more acidic; pear or banana = less acidic). Next, add 4 to 8 drops of flavor concentrate and sweeten to taste with Stevia Drops, Sweet Drops (AceK), sugar, or your preferred sweetener.

If the beverage has a strong smell, or if it leaves a taste of wax in your mouth, you've over-flavored! Reduce all quantities by half (except water) and start over. This is only a starting point. Food flavoring is an art and requires experimentation and practice to achieve results. Best Flavors is committed to helping everyone achieve great results with our products, so if you have questions about using our products, please let us know. We will make every effort to get you the information you need.

Starting usages are about 0.5% to 3% in recipes. Flavors are affected by fat, sugar, and bulking agent content, so a little experimentation may be needed to get the perfect flavor for you!

Flavor Concentrates can be used in syrups, ice cream, baked goods, yogurt, beverages, and more!

Flavor Concentrates are:

  • Highly concentrated
  • Have a similar concentration to extracts
  • Liquid
  • Contain no added sweetener
  • Water-based
  • High heat stable: Look slightly cloudy (when used at small ratios, shouldn't change color)
  • Ratio: 0.05% to 0.5% of your final solution (use sparingly)
  • Ingredients: gum acacia/arabic, citric acid, natural or organic flavors
  • Refrigerate Upon Receipt
  • Store in a tightly sealed container at temperatures not exceeding 35-40 degrees Fahrenheit. Stable at 2 years if stored properly