We’ve all heard something along the lines of “food is fuel”.
While this is true at the most basic level, everyone knows it’s so much more than that.
People aren’t cars, meaning the motivations behind what fuels their bodies are quite a bit more complex than simply choosing between premium and regular.
Food is comforting.
It’s enjoyable and communal, it’s memorable and nostalgic, and in many places, it can define an entire culture.
To many, food choices are as important psychologically and emotionally as they are physiologically, and with increased concerns around health and well-being, more consumers are grappling with how to balance these needs.

According to Mondelez International’s 2023 State of Snacking report, 61% of people find it important to treat themselves to comfort, joy, and pleasure. Snacking looks to be one of the preferred methods worldwide, with 74% of global consumers regularly turning to these treats for mood improvement.
Not to push health aside, 74% of consumers desire snacks explicitly tailored to their personal health and nutritional needs.
Still, despite the rise in health consciousness, 70% of consumers would rather have “mindful” portions of indulgent snacks than larger portions of low-sugar or low-fat alternatives.
But what if we could turn indulgence from a guilty pleasure to a permissible one?
Yes, I’m asking: what if consumers could literally have their cake, eat it too…and feel good about it?
Why not make a nonfat strawberry yogurt that tastes as rich and decadent as a full-fat strawberry cheesecake? Or smooth and creamy ice cream with more protein, fewer calories, and no compromises in flavor?
Functional and indulgent shouldn’t have to be “either/or” descriptors, and with authentic dairy flavors, maybe they don’t have to be.
Defining Indulgent: Why Dairy Flavors?

Unraveling how and why dairy, and dairy flavors in particular, are so crucial to creating healthier taste experiences starts by defining what we mean by indulgent.
Foods associated with this adjective often fall into the category of HFSS (High in Fat, Sugar, and Salt) foods. The idea that these things that are “bad for you” are the very things that make food worth eating and is as old as cuisine itself and the same reason we see a majority of consumers preferring to rely on their willpower and portion control instead of “better-for-you” alternatives.
What does this have to do with dairy? Everything.
The very essence of what makes dairy so enjoyable is fat.
This is what creates the smooth and luxurious mouthfeel that coats your mouth and helps give the perception of indulgence with every bite, scoop, or sip.
Beyond just fat, a sense of roundness or richness, now identified as “kokumi”, helps to accentuate the sense of sweetness and savory umami that can make you crave more. Large molecules, like glutamyl peptides, are responsible for this sensation. They help the tastes and notes you love linger on your tongue longer, enhancing your enjoyment of them.
Dairy products, whether fresh or fermented, are loaded with these and other compounds, which is why their inclusion in most indulgent products is so widespread.
This is also why at Edlong, we believe it’s possible to make things that taste great and are great for you.
With so many of these desirable traits occurring at the molecular level, our ability and expertise in identifying the roles of this wide range of compounds allows us to craft the most authentic and customized flavor solutions.
For example, even a smooth and sweet profile like vanilla can be driven by the various compounds we find in dairy. In this case, we may leverage specific ketones found in butter.

While these ketones are typically known for driving buttery notes used at different usage levels, they could add a silky, creamy perception to the vanilla profile.
As a result, you can build back some of the natural indulgence that had been lost in a “healthier” product.
Additionally, we can use some of these dairy compounds at sub-threshold levels to enhance desirable characteristics or mitigate issues hampering a profile. In other words, by isolating specific molecules and utilizing them at low usage rates, there is the potential to balance off-notes or increase indulgent perceptions without overly encroaching on the current profile.
This is just another reason why dairy is the world’s best modulator.
While that statement may be more my opinion than purely scientific, let me elaborate on why I feel this way.
Smooth Operator: Making Functional Indulgent
Have you ever wondered why sauces and vegetables, among other things, taste so much better at restaurants?
It’s usually a one-word answer:
Butter.

In addition to providing the richness we already discussed, dairy has another superpower: the ability to smooth, dampen, or round out many notes and achieve balance in the dish. This results in leveling out the peaks and valleys of a dish and turning the cacophony of flavor notes into a harmonious taste experience.
Harnessing this knowledge may prove to be the key for functional food and beverage developers seeking sustained success in this rapidly expanding market.
It’s no secret that while the targeted health benefits of functional ingredients are driving their growing popularity, the taste challenges they introduce could be the very thing preventing long-term loyalty with consumers.
These off-notes can be as varied and diverse as the ingredients that create them. Bitter, metallic, or unwanted earthiness are just a few we commonly come across.
Much like the chef’s knob of butter, dairy flavors, and their compounds do a fantastic job of softening them out and adding a higher level of creaminess on the back end to combat their impact.
This, however, is not a magic bullet, and as I mentioned in a recent article published on Food Dive, the complexity of dairy, especially cheese, can help you work with these ingredients instead of fighting against them.
Although we spend a lot of time discussing the sweet and fatty aspects of indulgent foods, we’d be missing out if we didn’t address the equally comforting, savory, and umami-packed pleasure of a salty snack.

This is where cheese and cheese profiles can act like a savory umami bomb in a number of applications. On top of being a delicious addition for salty indulgence, the inherent composition and characteristics of cheeses give them the potential to elevate and improve the perception of savoriness even with reductions in sodium.
Pair these factors with the naturally occurring fattiness of dairy, and it becomes easy to see why cheese profiles could be the perfect pairing to take functional snacks to another level.
Indulgence doesn’t have to be a dirty word or a guilty pleasure, but it can, in fact, be…healthy.
With Edlong’s international team of R&D experts and our authentic dairy and dairy-type flavors, functionally indulgent isn’t an “either/or” but rather a “yes and”.
About the Author: Peter Kern, Junior Flavorist
My over 15 years as a scientist and 7+ years as a flavorist with experience in reaction chemistry, savory, sweet, alcohol, and dairy has allowed me to innovate novel technologies, processes, and flavors that help provide solutions to long-standing challenges in our industry. I love working hand-in-hand with my team and our customers to help them bring their visions to life and have always believed meaningful collaboration is the key to success and the engine that drives progress.
Topics: Better For YouButter flavorsCheese applicationsCheese flavorsDairy flavorsFunctional Foods
Resource Type: Article
Resource Region: US