At bleibwacker, we were faced with one of those decisions that sound easier than they are: Do we use natural flavouring?
Clear - natural sounds good at first. Like summer, garden and real fruit.
For example, "natural strawberry flavour". Sounds like: 🍓 Strawberries, right?
Well. Not quite.
🍓 Natural strawberry flavour - where does it really come from?
When you read "natural flavour" on a list of ingredients, you probably immediately have a certain image in your head: you imagine sun-ripened fruit, perhaps fresh strawberries from the field, aromatic herbs from the garden or vanilla pods that have been slowly dried in the sun. In short: things you know. Things that grow. Things that you would also eat at home.
But the reality behind the term "natural flavour" is often different - and usually has little to do with strawberries, vanilla or lemon peel.
In fact, natural flavourings may only be obtained from natural raw materials. But many people don't realise this: These raw materials do not have to have anything to do with the flavour they later imitate.
A classic example:
Natural strawberry flavour does not have to come from strawberries. And in practice, it almost never does - because real strawberries are expensive, fragile and seasonal.
Instead, the flavour components often come from completely different sources:
- 🌳 Wood shavings - Vanillin, for example, a main component of vanilla flavouring, can be extracted from it.
- 🍄 Mould fungi - Under certain conditions, they produce aromatic compounds reminiscent of fruit.
- 🧫 Bacterial cultures or yeasts - Fermentation produces molecules that taste like lemon or berries, for example.
Sounds a bit like a biotechnology laboratory? It is. And it's completely legal - as long as the substances used are of "natural origin" and the molecules produced are chemically identical to those in strawberries, for example.
Why is this even possible?
One strawberry contains over 200 different flavourings. Only 15-20 of these make up its typical flavour.
And these 15-20 substances are also found in other plants or microorganisms - just not all at once.
Flavour developers therefore recreate the desired flavour impressions synthetically from natural sources - such as wood, yeast, fungi or bacterial fermentates. This is permitted, efficient - and above all: cheaper than real fruit.
So is natural flavouring bad?
No.
Natural flavouring is not "unhealthy" or harmful. It can be a sensible solution for producers who need standardised products with a consistent taste.
But: It's not what many consumers expect.
Because when you read "natural strawberry flavour", you often think of strawberries. Not wood fibres or microbes.
Why real ingredients are crucial for flavour (and feel)
Taste is more than just a flavour. A strawberry doesn't just taste good because it contains certain molecules - it works as a whole: with its natural sweetness, subtle acidity, vitamins, fibre and secondary plant substances. This composition not only influences our sense of flavour, but also how we feel after eating.
A flavour molecule is like a single letter - but real flavour comes from whole sentences, from context and interaction.
Why we at bleibwacker deliberately do without it
We have made our decision:
We don't put any flavourings in the glass - not even natural ones.
Not because we are against modern processes. But because we are in favour of Transparency and real food stand.
We believe that if you want strawberry flavour, then it should also contain strawberries. If it says vanilla on it, then it shouldn't contain wood fibre with a vanilla scent. It should be vanilla.
We don't make it any more complicated than necessary.
Only what belongs inside.
Conclusion: You can decide for yourself - but only if you know it
Natural flavouring is not automatically bad. But it is also not what many people imagine it to be. And that's exactly the point:
You can only make really good decisions if you know what is at stake.
We say: You have the right to know what's in your food - and what's not. And then you are free to decide whether you want real fruit - or flavouring components from the laboratory.
We at bleibwacker have made our decision.
For real ingredients. For honesty. And for flavour that doesn't come out of a test tube.
In our Fruit spreads contains exactly what you expect: 100 % fruit. No added flavour, No hidden sugarno gimmicks.
Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) (n.d.): Flavourings and aromas.
Consumer advice centre Hamburg (n.d.): Flavour in food - taste from the chemistry lab.
Flavour association (2021) Flavour knowledge compact no. 5: The strawberry flavour myth.
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