When it comes to choosing certain foods, especially in today’s market, shoppers are already saturated with choice, but you also have to consider the subcategories of those products. Let’s take, for instance, flavored syrups vs extracts. Flavored syrups come in all types of varieties including sugar free, natural, organic, gluten-free, concentrated, sweetener syrups, etc., and the same can be said with many extracts as well. So how are we to decide which is the best choice for us and what determining factors we should consider when trying to select the right type of flavored syrup or extract?
In the realm of flavored syrups most are made from a blend of simple syrup (sugar & water) followed by the addition of naturally occurring or artificial (synthesized) flavorings. Typically, flavored syrups are very cost effective but that is generally dependent on the fact that they are mostly composed of water, making more flavored syrup in your recipe necessary. Depending on the brand, there may also be a decrease in quality due to use of artificial flavorings.
Alternatively, extracts are usually made by mining part of the raw material from the sourced flavor ingredient via a solvent such as ethanol, which is utilized to extract volatile compounds that carry flavor. Regardless of whether you use a flavored syrup or extract, when it comes to natural fruit flavor, both generally lack the delicate fresh notes fruits are known for.