Maillard Reaction

A complex series of non-enzymatic chemical reactions between amino acids (or proteins) and reducing sugars (such as glucose, fructose, or lactose) under heat. The Maillard reaction is responsible for the browning, roasting, and characteristic flavour development in cooked and processed foods — bread crust, roasted coffee, seared meat, and reaction flavours like HVP RFC are all Maillard-driven. In food manufacturing, it is both desirable (flavour development in bakery) and potentially problematic (uncontrolled browning, formation of acrylamide at very high temperatures). In seasoning applications, controlled Maillard reactions are used to deliberately produce specific reaction flavours (chicken, beef, savoury).