vanillin

Cranberries' flavor and aroma come from compounds in the fruit such as cinnamates that add cinnamon notes, vanillin for hints of vanilla, benzoates and benzaldehyde, which tastes like almonds.

Other types of precision fermentation are already used in a variety of foods: Artificial flavors like vanillin, the vitamins added to cereal, and the rennet used in most dairy cheese are all precision-fermented.

The pleasant and sweet smell of this classic flavor is imparted by the chemical compound 'vanillin' found in the seed pods of vanilla plants belonging to the orchid family.

But some artificial flavors are easier to make than others: Vanilla flavoring, she says, gets its characteristic flavor from a single compound, vanillin.

For example, there are sensory neurons in our noses that bear receptors uniquely tuned to detect ethyl vanillin, the main odorant in vanilla, and other cells with receptors for limonene, lemon's signature odorant.