MONIN
THE STORY
Monin was founded in 1912 as a small artisanal company producing cordials. Its founder, George Monin, was a wine and spirits merchant with a passion for cooking: during a dinner, at the end of the meal, George wanted to offer a cordial to his guests, but, having opened the bottle, he realized that the scent of the liquid did not resemble that on the label at all. Dissatisfied, he began producing his own cordials, refining techniques and seeking out excellent raw materials. His son Paul began producing syrups and opened the export channel. It was Olivier, the current owner and son of Paul, who made MONIN the number one company in the world in terms of range and distribution.
When Monin designs a recipe, the first challenge is to define the flavor it is trying to recreate. For example, if we wanted to create a rhubarb flavored syrup, would we try to replicate the taste of canned rhubarb, fresh rhubarb, cooked rhubarb, or rhubarb pie? Should the final rhubarb syrup be green or pink? When creating a flavor, Monin always starts with a natural flavor, often the fresh fruit, vegetable, or spice itself. However, sometimes the natural product is not flavorful enough on its own, and the flavor needs to be enhanced using what are called “nature-identical” flavors.
Unlike many of its competitors, Monin never uses artificial flavors . The difference between “nature-identical” flavors and artificial or synthetic flavors is complex but can be simplified as follows: “nature-identical” flavors are obtained using flavor molecules that exist in nature, but do not originate from the original product whose taste the flavor replicates. They are obtained by synthesis or isolated through chemical processes. Artificial flavors derive from substances not identified in a natural product suitable for human consumption: they are usually obtained through fractional distillations and chemical manipulation of substances derived from crude oil or coal tar. For example, natural vanilla flavor is mimicked by vanillin, which is found in chicory and other plants, while ethyl is a totally artificial vanilla flavor. The vanillin molecule appears organically in nature, while ethyl is a man-made molecule, so it will be discarded by MONIN. Interestingly, Monin continued to produce its vanilla syrup using natural vanilla from Madagascar even when the price skyrocketed, always preferring natural flavoring even to “identical-natural” (provided the natural product has the desired flavor profile). Also, in some cases many natural ingredients, although they provide the necessary flavor, do not have the stability required to provide shelf life in the finished product.
