Off-note masking solutions

Effective masking solutions for replacing sugars or developing your next plant-based innovation!

Off-note masking

Trends towards healthier and more sustainable foods are driving the reformulation of food products to give them functional benefits. For food producers, it can be tricky to develop functional food without sacrificing taste.

Especially challenging is the creation of plant-based meat and dairy substitutes and the development of low-sugar products. Alternative proteins for plant-based meat and dairy substitutes often create bitter, beany, earthy or astringent off-notes in finished products. Replacing sugars with high-intensity sweeteners to create low-sugar products can cause a metallic or bitter aftertaste and may result in loss of taste and character.

There are no ingredients to prevent off-notes entirely. However, at Ohly, we offer ingredients which can mask these unwanted off-notes by distracting taste buds to improve the overall taste - so your functional food and beverages are just full of great flavour.

How we make off-note masking work

Natural and label-friendly yeast extracts - like OHLY® FLAV-R-MAX, PROVESTA®512 and OHLY®SAV-R-FULL - can be used individually, or combined to mask plant protein off-notes. Our application experts will help you choose the best masking solution for your next plant-based innovation.

For low-sugar food products, we've developed a natural, clean-tasting solution in OHLY® SAV-R-SEL, which restores the main flavour profile and masks the unwanted off-notes from high-intensity sweeteners. Our application experts proved that OHLY® SAV-R-SEL is effective at masking bitter off-tastes of the Stevia sweetener at levels below 0.01%.

Benefits of our off-note masking solutions

  • Mask lingering unpleasant off-notes
  • Subtle complex umami bring out true flavours
  • Off-note masking of high-intensity sweeteners and taste improvement of reduced sugar applications
  • Natural, clean label product

How yeast extracts help with off-note masking

Essentially, our carefully formulated yeast extracts bring out the overall taste of a product. As a result, you can mask the unpleasant off-notes which often occur when using sweeteners and plant-based proteins.

The rich, savoury taste provided by yeast extracts lends complexity to your product while the umami taste makes it more enjoyable and satisfying. So, with a skilled balancing of flavours, you can produce healthier products without sacrificing taste.

Explore our off-note masking products

OHLY® FLAV-R-MAX Select

  • Extra high umami to maximise your taste experience

OHLY® FLAV-R-MAX 19

  • Rich umami and long-lasting impact with unique clean taste

OHLY® FLAV-R-MAX

High umami impact for effective sodium reduction and flavour modulation. 

OHLY® SAV-R-SEL

Baker’s yeast extract with a unique composition of nucleotides, peptides and amino acids. It's perfect for sodium and sugar reduction applications in a wide range of foods.

OHLY® SAV-R-FULL

Baker's yeast extract with a clean taste that greatly contributes to umami taste and highlights savoury flavour notes already at low dosages.

PROVESTA® 512

High 5'-nucleotide level combined with natural glutamic acid – a powerful combination for savoury flavour and delicious taste. Helps sodium reduction by up to 40%.

Why choose Ohly for your food applications?

We’re experts in balancing flavour and function. After all, we’ve been creating high-calibre yeast products for almost 200 years. When you need to alter your ingredients but keep the same great flavour, our skilled team will help you find a solution.

We conduct continuous research and development, improving our processes and creating new products to meet changing customer needs. What’s more, we embrace the latest technology to make manufacturing as efficient and reliable as possible.

We’ve always taken great pride in our end product, and we’re certified by several standards organisations – so you can rely on the quality of our ingredients.