• Wall Street Journal, Thursday, May 27, 2010 10:34 AM

Miriam Gottfried reports that the American palate is changing and food company's product development types are slaving over hot stoves, vats and test tubes to appeal to our "hotter, mintier, fruitier" desires. Frito-Lay's new Doritos chips -- First-, Second- and Third-Degree Burn -- are made with jalapeño, buffalo and habanero flavors, respectively, for example.

Food companies sometimes say they are adding "umami," a Japanese word that roughly means "good flavor," Gottfried explains. Customers are also part of the mix, of course. To develop Dr Pepper Cherry soda, Dr Pepper Snapple offered consumers 30 different cherry flavors to rate on a nine-point scale. It was given a JAR score, which stands for "just about right."

"Bold is replacing boring," says McCormick's executive chef Kevan Vetter. The spice company offers an annual "flavor forecast," predicting the most popular flavor couplings of the forthcoming year. Among the 2010 pairings are roasted cumin and chick peas, caraway and bitter greens, roasted rhubarb and ginger, and almond and ale.

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