Paper presented at the IFEAT International Conference in Cartagena, , 9 - 13 Sept. 2018, “Las Americas”

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE FLAVOURS OF SOUTH AMERICA

Juan Elizalde R&D Manager Cramer [email protected]

The South American culinary culture is unique. It is made of diverse groups; from the ancestral Andean race, which keeps its recipes almost intact, to the inhabitants of the jungle, which has one of the greatest biodiversities on the planet. Additionally, the ascendance of European, Asian and African cultures, starting around the 16th century, produced a provocative mixture of flavours.

In this presentation we will make a journey through the flavours of South America, reviewing some of the most popular dishes. In each recipe the characteristic flavours will be highlighted as key ingredients, in order that the producers of aromatic ingredients, as well as producers of flavourings, could identify potential business for the industry that satisfies consumer trends and needs.

We will cover two preparations for each of the following countries; Colombia, Perú, Chile, Brazil and Argentina.

To begin, we will talk about the host country. When you think of Colombia you immediately imagine the jungle and hot weather, but Colombia has many different climates that allow the cultivation of a wide variety of vegetables.

Cattle is also a huge business in Colombia, so meat is consumed in most .

The first preparation we will review is . This is a baked dough made from corn flour. It is commonly consumed at or to accompany during the day. It can be eaten as it is, or with melted cheese inside the dough, or also as a sandwich, commonly filled with pulled , ham and cheese or fried plantain.

Some call it the bread of Colombia, but it is also very popular in . Actually, each country defends its origin and claims to have the best ones!

The truth is that corn, in all its forms, is consumed in most parts of America in different meals and preparations.

About the recipe. Mix corn flour with salt, water and butter or oil. Then knead for a while and form a kind of small pancake. Heat it in a pan or griddle for approximately five minutes on each side until a golden layer is obtained.

There are different ways of arepas: roasted, fried or baked.

Cooked corn and baked dough are the key flavours of arepas.

So some of the aromatic ingredients will be pyrazines such as 2 methyl, pyridines like 2 acetyl, thiazols like 2 acetyl and of course dimethyl sulphide.

Let us now talk about bandeja . Basically, this is a dish that contains several separate preparations, like a buffet.

Bandeja means tray and Paisa is a region of Colombia.

In its traditional classical presentation, it is composed of thirteen ingredients; but in some more than eighteen components are offered.

Some of the ingredients of the tray are:

• - white , fried egg • Avocado - which is very popular in different Latin American countries • Patacón - which is fried plantain, and also very popular in Central America and the Caribbean

King of the tray is the meats. and fried bacon are typical.

Some key ingredients for pork rind and bacon flavours, will be liquid smokes and grills. And if we speak of aroma chemicals, we will need guayacols and cresols.

The beans are an important part of the dish and are prepared with beef and Hogao (which is a tomato sauce flavoured with cumin, garlic and onion).

The tray has more meat. Beef which can be served as a joint, chopped, or even prepared in powder. Beef is usually seasoned with garlic, onion and cumin.

The tray has even more meat. A sausage called Antioqueño also seasoned with garlic, onion, parsley, cumin and black pepper.

Finally, some parsley and black pepper is sprinkled on top.

Some key ingredients for bandeja paisa flavours are garlic and onion powder or oils. cumin seeds or oil. Parsley leaves or oil and black pepper seeds, oil or oleoresin.

You will notice during this presentation, that black pepper, cumin, garlic and onion are very used along the countries covered, so from now on, I will refer to them as “typical South American ingredients”.

For meat key ingredients, we will talk about these at the end of this presentation.

We will now travel to Peru. which in my opinion has become a revelation in culinary terms, just as it was in the past for Thai or Mexican food. In fact, Lima declares itself as the South American capital of culinary culture.

Firstly, we will talk about Papas a la Huancaína, which is a preparation served as a starter.

There is however, some controversy regarding its origin. Some historians describe it around 200 years ago in the city of Huancayo. Others say it was created by a Chef that served the train from Lima to Huancayo, for that reason the term ... a la Huancaina is used, which means “going to Huancayo”.

Potatoes are a key ingredient in Peruvian . In fact, Peru has the biggest potato seed bank in the world.

About the recipe. First boil and slice yellow potatoes, a local variety that has earthy and buttery notes.

Some key ingredients for potato flavours are pyrazines like methoxy propil, ethyl methyl, dimethyl and trimethyl. Also some sulfurs notes as mercaptans and methional.

The potatoes are covered with a rich sauce known as salsa Huancaína prepared with milk and queso fresco, which is a kind of ricotta or feta cheese. This sauce has Ají Amarillo, which is a native yellow chilli pepper. Finally, the sauce is slightly seasoned with garlic and onion.

Other ingredients in the preparation are boiled egg, olives and red bell pepper.

Chili peppers are another fundamental ingredient for Peruvian cuisine, as well as in many other Latin American countries.

There are no known aromatic references for most of these chilli peppers. I have personally studied many of them by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry and even though you see peaks, it is not possible to identify the key ones.

So here is some advice to extract producers present in this room. If you are able to produce Latin American chilli extracts, you will have a huge potential market.

Some key ingredients for commercial Salsa Huancaina flavours: For the cheese, short acids such as lactic, butyric, caproic and valeric. Also some lactones like delta deca and dodeca. For chilli notes some capsicum, butyl propil tiazoline, isobutyl pyridine and of course pyrazines such as 2 acetyl and metoxi isobutyl. And hopefully the new extracts that the producers will launch!

We will now indulge ourselves with a great dessert called Suspiro Limeño. The translation is “sigh of Lima”.

This dessert originated in the mid-nineteenth century in the city of Lima and was a recipe of the wife of the poet José Gálvez Barrenechea. The poet named the dessert because it was soft and sweet like a woman from Lima.

The recipe has two layers. The lower is a kind of custard prepared with condensed and evaporated milk, eggs, and also flavoured with vanilla. On the top is a meringue sprinkled with cinnamon. Some versions add Oporto wine to the meringue.

Key ingredients for a commercial custard. For the dairy notes; lactones like delta deca and gamma deca, sulfurol and capric acid. For the eggy notes; pyridines, pyrrolinine and cysteine. For the vanilla notes; some extract and then some cinnamon powder for the sprinkle.

Now we will travel to Chile, my native country. Its geography is very long and bathed with more than 4,000 kilometers of sea. The Mediterranean climate of the central zone allows for exquisite fruits and wine. Meats and potatoes are also widely consumed.

The first we will talk about is Empanada de Pino, which is a filled dough.

Empanadas date frommore than 500 years ago. It is believed that they came from Persia, then went to Spain and from there spread to a number of Latin American countries. In Chile, they are consumed mainly at , either as a starter or as a main course. There are different varieties, stuffed with seafood or cheese, but the most popular are the meat ones, where the filling is called Pino.

The dough is prepared with wheat flour and lard. The Pino is prepared with meat (usually ground), seasoned with an onion sofrito, cumin, paprika and chilli pepper.

It also has half of a boiled egg, raisins and black olives

Some key ingredients for commercial empanadas are typical south American flavours, along with paprika and capsicum.

We will now warm our bodies and have Caldillo de Congrio, which means conger eel soup.

This soup became a around 50 years ago, when famous poet and Nobel prizewinner, Pablo Neruda, wrote an ode to it.

About the recipe. First it is prepared as a broth based on onion and paprika, with vegetables such as celery and also white wine. Then it is seasoned with origanum and black pepper.

At the last few minutes, clams and mussels are added and of course the king of the preparation is the fish, the conger eel. Before serving it, lots of chopped cilantro is sprinkled on top.

Some key ingredients are typical south American flavours; paprika and bell pepper pyrazines like metoxy isobutyl. For fishy and shellfish flavours we need aromatics like trimethyl amine, mercaptans, dimethyl sulphide, pyridine and cresols.

We will continue our journey to Brazil, with its beautiful beaches and idyllic landscapes. The origin of its cuisine is also based on the fusion of Native American, African and European traditions, but in this case mainly influenced by Portugal with also a little bit of Italy.

The first food is the popular Pao de Queijo, which means cheese bread. It originated at Minas Gerais. This bread is ideal for celiacs, becayse it is prepared with mandioca (also known as cassava) which does not contain gluten.

These delicious ball-shaped breads are traditionally consumed at breakfast.

As mentioned the dough is prepared with candioca (which can be flour or starch), milk, water, salt, egg, oil and plenty cheese (most recipes mention Parmesan and others gruyere). Finally, the dough is oven baked.

Some key ingredients for a commercial Pao de Queijo flavour are the same pyrazines previously mentioned for potatoes. For cheese, short acids like butyric, caproic, caprylic or isovaleric, and also bigger ones to bring the waxy notes like lauric, palmitic or myristic. Also, some ketones such methyl amyl are necessary.

We will now warm ourselves again with a wonderful stew called made mainly from meat and beans.

The Portuguese brought recipes to Brazil, with pork ingredients such as the ear, nose, tail and tongue. Many authors detail that Feijoada had its origin when the slaves collected leftovers from the owners of the plantations, to mix them with black beans.

The black beans are usually prepared with an onion and garlic sofrito (a sauce). Also, tomato, bell peppers and black pepper.

Besides the pork ingredients previously mentioned, some use smoked pork rib or knee.

This stew is served with white rice. Also with Farofa, a very popular Brazilian preparation made from toasted Mandioca flour. It is also served with oranges, which is an inheritance from the slaves to prevent scurvy as their diet lack of vitamin C.

Some key ingredients for a Feijoada flavour will be liquid smokes, grills and guayacol. Also, the typical South American aromas. Meat will be covered immediately.

We will finally end our journey in Argentina to explore some Maillard reactions.

Argentina is a land of cowboys who are locally called “gauchos”. Beef and dairy products are widely consumed in their diet.

The large meadows allow the animals to feed on grass and their tender meat is appreciated worldwide.

We will start with a that in Argentina is called “Parrilla”. This is usually served with a dressing called Chimichurri.

The traditional Argentine barbecue food is slowly roasted with firewood and exposed to the air for several hours. It is common to see whole pig, cow or lambs pierced by swords nailed to the ground.

The Chimichurri sauce is prepared using vinegar, garlic, chilli pepper and herbs such as origanum and parsley.

We will now cover key ingredients for meat. Besides liquid smokes, grills and reaction flavours, several aroma chemicals can be used, such as 2 methyl 3 furanthiol, methylthio pyrazines and some allyl notes.

For the Chimichurri, typical South American aromas.

We will finally indulge ourselves again with the sweet taste of Dulce de Leche which means sweet milk and is also a Maillard reaction.

The origin of Dulce de Leche is documented in different countries. The first references dates back to France around 300 years ago, with "Confiture de Lait" which is less reacted, so clearer.

The traditional Argentinian recipe is prepared by heating milk and sugar and finally adding vanilla. The stirring of milk and sugar must be slow, constantly removing the sticky bottom layer. At the end of cooking, a sweet, dairy and caramelised brown product is achieved.

There is a famous Argentinian preparation called Alfajores, which is a tyoe of cookie sandwich filled with Dulce de Leche and bathed with a chocolate layer.

Some key ingredients to achieve the flavour notes of Dulce de Leche are lactones, sulfurol and capric acid. For the caramelised notes; furaneol, maltol and cyclotene. Finally, vanilla extract

I hope this journey through the flavours of South America has aroused the appetite of the attendees and incentivises you to visit us once again.

Thank you

Dr Juan Elizalde has more than 20 years of experience developing flavours for the Latin American market. He studied Biochemistry at the University of Chile and gained a PhD in Food Technology at the University of Murcia in Spain. Dr Elizalde has worked for over 20 years at Cramer, a Chilean flavour house, as Research and Development Manager, responsible for flavour design, applications, sensory evaluation and chromatography. At Cramer, he is also responsible quality control and quality assurance. Since 2002, Dr. Elizalde has been an Associate Flavour Chemist at the British Society of Flavourists and since 2007, he has been a Certified Flavor Chemist at the American Society of Flavor Chemists.