"Super Envision"

[patris]

I arrived at Patris's home this weekend and the sample of Super Envision was waiting.

Patty mixed up two glasses of sugar water, to one we added a small amount of the product.  It cut the sweetness considerably.  Left a bit of an aftertaste - notably when Patty went to chew some gum, she found it quite bitter.  So it must block the taste receptors for a while after you consume it.

A bit of research online indicates that zinc has the same ability to cut the perception of sweetness.

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It was really pretty cool. We also mixed a teeny bit into some nappage neutre/cointreau mixture - it cut the sweetness, but also deadened the flavor overall.

[cmflick]

I believe that the active ingredient in Envision, lactisole, inhibits the umami taste in addition to the sweet taste of foods. I don't know if that would effect the taste of what you were experimenting with, but I'm sure that it would effect the overall taste (besides sweetness) of some foods.

Edited March 30, 2009 by cmflick (log)

[Brasshopper]

Well, I tried and tried to find this stuff in small quantities, commercially, like for molecular gastronomy sample kits, because I wanted to play with it, and I found Chinese sources that had it for large amounts (a kilo of 35% for many hundreds of dolars) and 2 tonne minimum quantities. I finally found a source that would sell relatively small quantities (like 40 pound bags) and decided to repackage it for home cooks. You can get it through Amazon now, see here, at least until I run out.

The sugar and maltodextrin are stretchers, if that was not clear. You want to use the Super Envision so that Lactisole is at about 100 ppm in the final product, so the cut to 1% lactisole in the Super Envision is to get the lactisole to where you can measure it on a gram scale as a typical home cook. Without the 1% cut, you'd need a milligram scale or a .1 milligram scale to measure the Lactisole for a simple recipe. 100 ppm of a half kilogram recipe (a pound) would be 0.05 grams, seriously hard to measure accurately for a home cook. A home cook with a typical scale can measure 5 grams, though, and the 2.5-5 gram range is 0.5%-1% of a 500 gram serving of whatever.

With the cut to 1%, the stuff can be measured. Now, if you look on the Domino Specialty Ingredients web site for recipes, select "Flavor and Texture Modifiers" from the top selector, then select the recipe you want from the bottom list, there are a bunch of recipes that show the ingredient "Envision". Here is an example from their site, apple pie filling:

Envision® Flavor & Texture Modifier 28.00 grams

Domino®Granulated Sugar 102.13 grams

Water 227.50 grams

Apples 316.40 grams

Mira-Thik 468 grams

Cinnamon, Ground 2.10 grams

Dry blend granulated sugar, Envision®, Mira-Thik and cinnamon. Place water in a medium mixing bowl and add dry mixture while beating at low speed. Stir in apples with a spoon. Fill pie shell and bake.

YIELD: One (1) Pie

NOTE: When using Super Envision® Flavor and Texture Modifier, use 1/8 the amount of Envision called for in formula and make up the difference with sugar. For a new formula, add Super Envision‚ at between 0.5% and 1.0% as a starting point.

So because this is Super Envision, instead of 28 grams, you use 3.5 grams of Super Envision, and 24.5 more grams of sugar, for a total of 126.63 (anyone think that they cut this from a larger recipe? Maybe up to 100 pie fillings worth?)

In any case, I looked for it on a number of different commercial ingredients sheet but never found it, and when I got the MSDS and info from the seller, I figured out why. It only needs to be listed as "Artificial Flavor", and the sugar and Maltodextrin in it can be combined with other Sugar and Maltodextrin. So no one lists Lactisole on labels, I guess it is not one of those things that people are allergic to. It is also heat stable, so it can be added before a cooking step.

My understanding is that someone noticed that some coffees didn't taste as sweet as others when a certain amount of sugar was added. They discovered Lactisole, and it is now on the GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) list.

So if you have bought a copy of Cooking for Geeks and you wanted to play with savory meringues but couldn't find the Super Envision, well, now you can. Hope this helps. I wanted to play with it too, if I learn anything, I'll post it here, or in the appropriate place.

Edited August 13, 2011 by Brasshopper (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Anyone know of a source for small quantities of lactisole currently?