Powersalt, a special blend of salt and thaumatin, a protein with unusual flavour enhancing properties from the katemfe fruit, has been launched by Norgrow International to help manufacturers reduce sodium
by enhancing the 'saltiness' of salt.
Thaumatin is approved as a flavour enhancer in Europe, but is also used as a sweetener (E957), said Norgrow director Henri Rosenthal. It is water-soluble and heat and acid stable.
While manufacturers could add thaumatin directly to recipes containing salt, they would not achieve the same results as with Powersalt, he insisted. "The application of thaumatin into the salt is key to ensure uniformity. We do this by using specific blending procedures. We also have thaumatin-based additives that are available to firms; if they just went out and bought thaumatin they would not achieve salt enhancement as the structure of the thaumatin has to be correct to achieve the enhancing capability. To date we have had several successful trials carried out by various manufacturers."