The Simply Dairy Ingredients line has a concentrated dairy profile developed by the company’s expert flavorists to provide amplified flavor, batch-to-batch consistency, and stability in harsh, high-heat environments. Initial profiles include butters, cheddars, Italian styles and butter cream profiles, with additional profiles in development.
Founded in 1914 in Chicago, Edlong began by developing the first commercially viable, cost-effective concentrated cheese flavor. To date, the company offers about 400 flavors in its portfolio library for dairy product applications as well as specializes in baking, confectionery, snacking, and sauce/dressing uses.
Edlong says it assists customers at every stage of product development, offering technical collaboration, formulation expertise, and customized solutions. All flavors are available in a variety of solubilities and forms.
“One of our challenges in communicating Edlong is that the word ‘dairy’ is in our name,” Edlong marketing communications assistant Michelle Finley told DairyReporter.
“Sometimes people think that a dairy product is the only thing that our flavors can be used in, when really the word ‘dairy’ is there to communicate that we specialize in the flavors of dairy.”
Reducing reliance on dairy commodities
As a commodity-based market, dairy product manufacturers are subject to the rise and fall of the fluctuating market. However, by using dairy flavorings in place of whole dairy products, Edlong can provide a consistent desired taste at a fixed fraction of the price of a dairy product.
“Dairy flavors are used to reduce expensive commodities, so you can get a very premium butter flavor and not use a really expensive European butter,” Laura Parker, director of marketing for Edlong, told DairyReporter.
“They’re a lot easier to process in very small quantities,” Parker added.
Fitting into clean label
The majority of US adult consumers (77%) read the label when purchasing a food product, and 65% want labels that contain only ingredients they recognize, according to the company, and Edlong aims to ensure all of its flavors are made from simple formulations.
Nearly half the company’s product line is natural, and includes several non-dairy, non-GMO, kosher certified, whole foods-compliant, and organic compliant flavors. Unlike other flavor ingredients the Simply Dairy line Ingredients are listed as their source ingredients on products labels, the company said.