Serving our customers for over 35 years

Flavor Extracts

Best Flavors has been producing natural flavor and organic flavor extracts for over 30 years. We specialize in custom-made Natural Flavor Extracts for the food and beverage industry. Best flavors make all of its natural flavor extracts from scratch from our huge library of inventoried raw materials. There is no middle man. We make custom Natural Flavor Extracts in our factory here in California the way our customers like them: fresh and on time. Some flavor companies make their flavor extract in advance and store them on their shelves for many months before they sell them. At Best Flavors, we believe the customer's Natural Flavor Extract should be made fresh every time so the flavor will be fresher tasting longer.

We have over 8,000 varieties in our library of custom-made flavors, and we're adding more all the time. If you don't see a Natural Flavor Extract you need, let us know! Natural flavor extracts are made from plant materials and so variations can occur from season to season. If you are buying a Natural Flavor Extract that is to be used year-round we can tailor a plan that will ensure the least amount of variation from order to order.

Natural flavor extracts come in many styles, colors, forms, and concentrations. Be sure to test the flavor out and ask us if you need help to determine starting amount for your application. A good rule for starting usage is .25%. Finding the perfect amount of Natural Flavor Extract for your recipe is an art form, and requires practice! First, 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 dissipates after 3 to 5 seconds, it's perfect! Note: if this is a baked product and it has not been baked, you will need to add 10% more to compensate for the loss during baking. When making and freezing ice cream it is also possible the extract will become diluted due to the whipping of air into the product from the ice cream machine, and you may need to add additional extract.

If at any time you notice a minty taste on your palate or a medicinal taste, you have over-flavored your product. Or, if you are burping the flavor up an hour or more after you have eaten the finished product then you have probably over flavored it. The trick to making a product taste good is to give just enough flavor to tease the taste buds, without overdoing it. That's what keeps them coming back for more.

PREMIUM EXTRACTS

Best Flavors' Natural Flavor Extracts are made from the finest ingredients available. The Flavor Guy shops the world over for the purest and most unique raw materials to bring you new and innovative flavors. These flavors will tantalize your taste buds!

What is an Natural Flavor Extract?

Best Flavors Natural Flavor Extracts are water-soluble flavors made in a base of Natural Ethyl Alcohol. These all-natural flavor extracts are food-grade, Kosher, vegan, gluten-free. They are best used in clear beverages, dairy products, and applications where you don't want to disturb the clarity/translucency. Best Flavors Extracts are of comparable strength with our Flavor Concentrates and Flavor Oils. Usage for these Flavors should start at under 0.5% and slowly work up to 4% maximum. You will need to experiment to achieve the perfect strength for flavoring your recipe, but once you finish you will be happy with the results.

Why use a Flavor Extract instead of a Flavor Concentrate? Best Flavors Natural Flavor Extracts and Natural Flavor Concentrates are very similar. They are both all-natural and water-soluble Products. The difference is that Concentrates have a cloudy/opaque look to them whereas most Extracts are clear*. This property is due to the base that these flavors are set in. If your final application needs to be clear then we recommend a Flavor Extract. Flavor Concentrates are also more heat stable than extracts, so for baking, you might want to look at concentrates. Flavor Extracts are in an alcohol base and will affect the freezing point of any recipe you put them into, while concentrates will not. *The few extracts that are not clear are mentioned on their product pages.

Flavor Extracts can be used in baking and clear beverages.

Flavor Extracts are:

  • Highly concentrated
  • Clear liquids
  • Water-based or Alcohol-based only
  • High heat stable
  • Alcohol bakes out at high temperatures
  • Start use at under 0.5% and slowly work up to 4% maximum
  • Ingredients: ethyl alcohol, natural and organic flavor