So they truly are irresistible! The science behind why you just can’t stop eating nacho cheese Doritos
- Chemicals, cheese, and colors all add to the magic of Doritos science
- Frito-Lay made $5 billion on Doritos in 2010
- When the developer of the chip died in 2011, his family even tossed the chips in his grave
PUBLISHED: 15:00 EST, 2 October 2013 | UPDATED: 16:39 EST, 2 October 2013
What’s in a chip? Many factors come together to make Doritos so irresistible. They include types of ingredients, rations of ingredients, color, feel, and more
Science has cracked the code of the nacho cheese Dorito’s ability to keep us coming back for more.
Ingredients, fat ratio, texture, and even the brightly colored bags all combine to make Doritos one of the most popular snack chip in existence.
While a little sneaky, none of the tricks that make Doritos king make the chip any less irresistible.
In fact, Arch West, who invented Doritos in 1964, spent much of his life adoring his brainchild. When he died in 2011, his family honored his contribution by tossing the chips into his grave as it was lowered into the ground.
‘He would think it is hilarious,’ said his daughter Jana Hacker.
It takes the perfect texture to give Doritos so much allure, food scientist Steven A. Witherly told the New York Times.
Doritos uses a perfect ratio of fat to deliver its delectable punch: a full 50 percent of their calories come from fat. This helps boost flavor while also creating a sensation of the Dorito melting in your mouth.
This sensation fools your body and brain into believing less has been consumed. The phenomenon is called vanishing caloric density and can also be found in popcorn, cheese puffs, and cotton candy.
Tricky: Doritos made Frito-Lay around $5 billion in 2010 and their unbelievable popularity has now been explained away by science. Taste, mouth feel, sneaky chemicals, and perfect fat ratio make the snack physically hard to resist
Garlic powder and real romano cheese help give Doritos their unique, savory kick. So do the chemicals MSG, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, lactic acid, and citric acid
Another aspect of the chip’s mouth feel is found in the cheesy powder. The flour-fine grind allows the dust to settle into every cranny of the chip and then all across the tongue.
The cheese itself is special, too. Frito-Lay, which manufactures Doritos, uses real Romano cheese where other companies would be likely to use cheaper substitutes.
But there’s more than just cheese in the powder.
Garlic powder helps add to the bold Doritos taste, as does three different forms of salt.
Three other flavor enhancing chemicals are present, as well: monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate. These additives help create a burst of intensely savory flavor.
Sublime: The tangy Doritos taste helped make Taco Bell’s Dorrito Locos into one the chain’s most successful products ever
Citric and lactic acids also keep snackers snacking by encouraging salivation, which according to Dr. Witherly and the Times, stimulates the impulse to eat.
When all of the Dorito’s flavors come together, something magical occurs: not a single ingredient’s flavor stands out. With all its ingredients balanced so perfectly, the chip avoids so-called sensory specific satiety—that is, the urge to stop eating after you become sick of the same flavor.
The Dorito’s bright bags and colorful coating are the final factors that make Arch West’s chip a favorite for life.
‘I always had them on my shopping list for him, right up to the end,’ his daughter said
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442095/Science-explains-precise-factors-make-nacho-cheese-Doritos-irresistible.html#ixzz2gcttMFug Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook