Patent ID: 7556833

Claim:
A flavoring system for food products, said system comprising a sulfury-cheddar flavor component, a cheesy flavor component and a creamy-buttery component, wherein the sulfury-cheddar flavor component is prepared by treating a first dairy product containing an aqueous protein source and fat source combination with lipase and a lactic acid culture at a temperature of about 15 to about 35° C. for about 10 to about 72 hours to obtain a first mixture having a pH of about 5.8 or less; adjusting the pH of the first mixture to about 6 or higher to obtain a second mixture; treating the second mixture with a sulfur-containing substrate, and a microorganism that can convert the sulfur-containing substrate to sulfur-containing flavor compounds, and optionally a first bacteriocin source, at a temperature of about 15 to about 35° C. for about 12 to about 96 hours to obtain a third mixture; heating the third mixture at a temperature sufficient to inactivate the cultures and enzymes in the third mixture to form the sulfury-cheddar flavor component; wherein the cheesy flavor component is prepared by treating a second dairy product containing an aqueous protein source and fat source combination with a lactic acid culture at a temperature of about 15 to about 45° C. for about 10 to about 24 hours to obtain a fourth mixture; treating the fourth mixture with a lipase, a protease, and an aminopeptidase, and optionally a second bacteriocin source, at a temperature of about 20 to about 50° C. for about 16 to about 96 hours to obtain a fifth mixture; treating the fifth mixture at a temperature sufficient to inactivate the cultures and enzymes in the fifth mixture to form the cheesy flavor component; wherein the creamy-buttery flavor component is prepared by treating a third dairy product containing an aqueous protein source and fat source combination with a lactic acid culture at a temperature of about 20 to about 35° C. for about 10 to about 24 hours to obtain a sixth mixture having a pH of about 5.4 or less; treating the sixth mixture with a diacetyl-producing flavor culture, and optionally a third bacteriocin source, at a temperature of about 20 to about 35° C. for about 16 to about 240 hours to obtain a seventh mixture; heating the seventh mixture at a temperature sufficient to inactivate the cultures and enzymes in the seventh mixture to form the creamy-buttery flavor component; wherein at least one of the first, second, and third bacteriocin sources is included, and wherein the sulfury-cheddar component, the cheesy component and the creamy-butter component of the flavoring system can be incorporated in varying amounts into food products to produce a variety of flavors.