Alcoholic beverages are used in cooking for their flavors and because alcohol dissolves hydrophobic flavor compounds.

Alcoholic beverages are sometimes used in cooking, not only for their inherent flavors, but also because the alcohol dissolves hydrophobic flavor compounds which water cannot.

After roughly three years, most of a barrel's flavor compounds have been leached out and it is well on its way to becoming "neutral."

"This kind of research is very challenging," he said, "The flavor compounds are so low in concentration that they are very difficult to analyze."

Filbertone is the principal flavor compound of hazelnuts.

The vanilla bean, which is the cured fruit of a tropical orchid, contains more than 250 flavor compounds.

Inferior extracts are made with heat, which draws out vanilla's aromas in less than five days but damages many volatile flavor compounds.

In the process, hundreds of different flavor compounds are created.

These compounds, in turn, break down to form yet more new flavor compounds, and so on.

The primary flavor compound is 2-Pentylfuran.