Taste technology for plant-based proteins

Plant-based proteins solve a nutrition and sustainability problem — but they create a taste problem. Pea, soy, faba, and rice proteins can introduce bitterness, astringency, and beany/earthy off-notes that compromise product quality and drive consumer rejection. Rebuilding dairy character in products that don't contain dairy requires more than flavor addition: it requires deep familiarity with how dairy works sensorially, and the ability to replicate it without the source material.

Edlong has been developing dairy-free flavor solutions for over 40 years. We work with food and beverage R&D teams to solve specific formulation challenges - masking off-notes from proteins, rebuilding creaminess and mouthfeel in dairy-free applications, and ensuring that products hitting clean label requirements still taste like the real thing. Our library of 250+ dairy-free flavors is the starting point; the co-development process is where the work actually happens.

When applications are reformulated - fat reduced, sugar cut, cost optimized, or clean label transitioned - taste is the first thing to suffer. The flavor compounds that make dairy taste like dairy are volatile, complex, and tied to the fat matrix and fermentation character that reformulation tends to compromise. Getting them back requires specialized expertise.