Imagining flavour combinations is something we all do. Often when thinking of childhood favourites, peppermint and chocolate, root beer vanilla ice cream floats, or even condiments on a homemade burger, we can remember the experience of those textures and flavours and how they made us feel.

The art of imagining flavour combinations in your mind before having actually tasted them comes with years of experience. Who knew smoking the mango’s in the Q Gourmet Smoked Mango Cooking sauce would change the flavour profile to become a show favourite by all. Before developing the sauce I could taste it in my mind and that was the blueprint I worked off, I only new it was ready when it tasted how I imagined.

On average in the western world we spend so much more time eating fast or over processed food that we sometimes get immune to powdered bases or lab made flavours. When eating we feel there is something missing if we don’t get those artificial flavours or a heavy dose of sodium. They have fooled us, by “they” I mean the manufacturers of low quality over processed fast food.

What we are really missing is the true clean flavours that occur when food is made the traditional way with time and care focusing on fresh quality ingredients. OK I don’t want to sound like a pretentious foodie who wouldn’t be caught dead eating at a fast food joint. Yes, I too break down and enjoy a quarter pounder with mustard and cheese on the odd occasion. My point is; in North America we have been so over-indulged in processed food, a lot of our cravings for food are not due to real flavour but for additives and high sodium and sugars. This was a major focus in developing the Q Gourmet line. The sauces needed to be made from quality ingredients, focusing on natural true flavours.