Aldehydes

Carbonyl compounds containing the CHO group — a hugely influential flavour family spanning the fresh green notes of hexanal, cinnamon’s cinnamaldehyde and vanilla’s vanillin. Many define the character of foods and beverages for better or worse: desirable in chocolate, citrus and fresh produce, objectionable as cardboard-like or painty taints when lipid oxidation generates them in stale beer and rancid oils. Aldehydes formed by oxidation of fatty acids are among the most important sources of flavour deterioration in lipid-rich foods. Managing their formation — and their removal — is central to flavour stability.