Nougat Flavor-SC-WF

This is another review of a food that I have never had in real life, but was very pleased with how this presents as a flavoring. My understanding of the type of "Nougat" Wonder Flavours was going for here is that of a traditional European nougat this is made with egg whites, sugar or corn syrup and almonds or other nuts. I feel like Wonder Flavours did a great job emulating that profile. I have not had the real thing, but I can taste the individual components that make up this confection through out this mix at 2.5-3.5%. I've tried to describe this flavoring before to others and the best description summery I can come up with is this: its like white chocolate minus the chocolate aspect of it with almonds and a slight egginess similar to that of meringue. This flavor has a nice mouth coat, and a nuttiness that is very subtle. Smelling the bottle of concentrate off the nose, I was unimpressed. Honestly, I didn't even want to mix it. It has a funky smell to it similar to that of FA Nut mix, but when mixed it was pretty impressive. I really enjoy the creaminess this has which kind of surprised me, as I was expecting a more dry, nutty flavor after having smelled the bottle of concentrate. Its has some nice body to it and a thickness that satisfies me. I wasn't expecting it to have the weight that it does, but it is very full bodied for a single flavor. Being that I went into this flavor with low expectations off the nose, it really did impress me. If you are looking for a chocolate candy bar with nougat, this isn't it. This is a very simple but delicious flavor that tastes exactly as European nougat has been described. I enjoy the balance of creaminess to light nuttiness. I was concerned it would be overly nutty but this did not disappoint. The nuttiness is mostly almond but I do detect some very subtle aspects of FA nut mix going on here. Although this flavoring is creamy I do get a dryness off the finish in the throat particularly. A lot of the creaminess it hitting in the front and upper palate of the mouth and finishing in the back of the throat as a very smooth throat hit. This is a great flavor but its delicacy concerns me for using it a mix as a top note. I just don't see how it could be the star of the show in a mix as I feel this flavor will get bullied in a mix. I could certainly see this working great as a base or background note for a creamy and/or nutty recipe. This would be great to thicken up a recipe that already uses almonds or nuts and is just too thin or not creamy enough. Nougat is also really not that bad as a solo act. It you just want something simple, creamy, nutty and delicious; mix this up at 3-3.5% solo. Honestly, I think you could push it even further and it still be very enjoyable. I believe this will work best as a pairing with other creamy flavorings, custards, and in nut based dessert recipes and even with bakeries. I could also see this working fantastic in dessert tobaccos also. I look forward to using this flavoring in the future paired with white chocolate as I feel it wants to be white chocolate so bad but is just missing that little push it needs to get there. Suggested Usage Range: (1.5% - 4%+) *I think you could go higher without any off notes Pairings: White Chocolate, Almond, Custards, Tobaccos, Creams, Nuts, Coffee, Bakeries, Vanilla, Banana, Coconut, Blueberry, Cranberry, Fig, Honey, Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Sabayon/Zabaglione, Apricot, Wine, Moscato, Raspberry, Torrone, Devon Cream, peanut butter *These are some pairings that would inspire recipes development for me, using this flavor. I suggest a week steep minimum to really get the creaminess from this one. The nuttiness is not as forward after a steep as it was off the shake for me. The nuttiness is a subtle note to begin with and would certainly benefit from some added almond in my opinion. I think this could also work well to boost a peanut butter recipe to the next level of creaminess while not messing with the peanut aspect of the recipe too much. Although tasty solo, I don't believe this will be a primary top note in to many recipes as I find the flavors to be very light overall but the body and creaminess are what set it apart. Because of this I rated this flavor an A-. I get no off notes from this flavoring and outside of it being somewhat subtle in the top note department, I consider it a great flavoring that I'm certain will see a lot of use in future recipes within the DIY community.

Nougat (WF) 3.5% (4-24-22) – LAST one in this series. While many US’ers may think they know Nougat from candy bars, but not all really know what a true Nougat is. This one, WAS that Nougat. Because Nougat shares some commonalities with Meringue, I was looking for that, and it did have that as well. Maybe a good comparison might be a meringue with some honey, and butter elements, and a nutty undertones, which I think were almond-ish. A few ticks above mid level sweet, this one wowed with nothing out of place, and nicely rich and full @ 3.5%. It didn’t feel ceiling smashing, but you could probably reduce to even 2.0-2.5% with little to no overall reduction. The almost buttery-ish honey notes seemed to really pull this one together, and keep it cohesive. When comparing it to real Nougats I’ve tried, this one was about as spot on as I have ever had. When mixing it up, it almost smelled bitter, so I left it for the LAST flavor in this series, and great news, as there was NO bitterness to be found. All in, if you want/need a real Nougat, this one SHOULD be on your rack. Easily a 10/10, and a GREAT finish to this series of new releases from Wonder Flavors.