History of artificial flavor

It was not until the latter half of the 19th century that chemist began to realize the flavoring opportunities of synthetic aromatic compounds. They started to synthesize products that could be used as artificial food additive for the enhancement of color, odor and flavor.

In 1858, vanillin was first crystallized from an alcoholic extract of vanilla beans by Nicolas Theodore Gobley.

In the early part of the 20th century, German’s powerful chemical industry gave it an advantage in flavor production.

German scientist unexpectedly discovered one of the first artificial flavors, methyl anthranilate while mixing chemical in laboratory. Methyl anthranilate later became the chief flavor additive in grape Kool-Aid.

In 1860, the first known book on artificial flavor formulations was published anonymously in Philadelphia. 

This was followed in 1916 by a manual for the essence industry by Walter, in which a large number of formulations for artificial flavoring were published.

Artificial flavors were especially popular during the 1960s and 1970s. For the past 20 years food companies have tried hard to use only ‘natural’ flavors in their products.
History of artificial flavor