Meaty Flavor from Mushrooms

A team of Chinese and American scientists have developed a fermentation technique to produce meaty flavors from oyster mushrooms. Published in the International Journal of Food Science & Technology, the findings from the experiment could result in a mass-produced, cruelty-free natural meat-flavor additive for foods. The researchers added amino acids and sugars to 15 samples of oyster mushrooms and heat-treated the samples to find six major flavor attributes—meaty, sweet, earthy, musty, sulphuric pungent, and burnt sugar—and then isolated the meaty flavor. “The utilizations of edible mushroom mycelia for the product of natural flavor compounds can have great benefits to consumers and food and flavor industry,” says the report.