5 ms·

You could ship a sample out to get a liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis done.

• Scoundreller 2y ago
  Then when it comes back with 4000 molecules as a result, figuring out which 2 spices are responsible for 3993 of those.
  • throwup238 2y ago
    A lab specializing in analyzing food will be able to help with that too. Usually only a few aromatics will make up the bulk of the flavor and they’re well known molecules, especially if they’re synthetic.
    • aitchnyu 2y ago
      Does this mean all "secret" recipes have been useless IP protection for a long time?
      • throwup238 2y ago
        No, a mass spec can only give you a list of molecules, like a list of ingredients but after they’ve been cooked. It can’t give you the raw ingredients or the recipe. Most soda is sugar water with a few well known synthetic flavors added so it’s easy to identify. Secret recipes like Coca Cola are far more complex to make without easy synthetic alternatives. Any recipe that caramelizes sugar, for example, is hard to reverse engineer.
        • nailer 2y ago
          Somebody should be able to build a Large language model of Molecules to ingredients.