A big mistake I see people making is one that is extremely easy to fall into: taking this hobby too seriously. I'm not talking about safety or cost, but the actual act of making juice. Far too often are new mixers posting recipes with 10-15 ingredients, trying to make something complex. This thought was solidified with Fawgmachine's(RIP) Blue Raspberry post. Granted, he wasn't exactly a new mixer, but he also never practiced that the simpler approach is often the more satisfying one. He was very passionate about mixing, and you could see that in all of his posts, but I feel like there should at least be a contrasting voice.
Now, blue raspberry is one of those flavors that I have copious amounts of knowledge on, simply because of how varying the blue raspberry concentrates available are. None of them really nail the flavor, and I NEEDED to know why. A couple days, and more than a couple Google results pages later, I wrote this article for InTheMixMagazine, you can find it in one of the October issues.
The recipe I came up with wasn't tacked onto that .doc, because I really hadn't even made one yet. It took a few weeks of trial and error to come up with a recipe that I was really proud of, and that I felt emulated blue raspberry well enough. This process didn't involve adding flavors like peach, hibiscus, lemon, or strawberry. It consisted of sticking to the basics. A recipe doesn't need double-digit ingredients to make it complex. The final recipe that i landed on consists of 4 ingredients, and does its job extremely well.
- 67% TFA Raspberry Sweet
- 4.5% FLV Boysenberry
- 3.5% INW Raspberry
- 25% Ethyl Maltol(10%)
##This is a flavor base, not a finished juice.
The TFA raspberry sweet works as the basis of the sweet, seedy berry flavor. FLV boysenberry adds some earthiness, along with a more black cherry-like sweetness that isn't in regular raspberry. INW raspberry adds a hint of tart to the very sweet flavors. The ethyl maltol is there because blue raspberry is a made-up flavor for the frozen confectionery industry, so it needed to be very sugary and candy-like; it also helps tone down INW raspberry because that shit can be pretty offensive IMO.
The entire point of this post is to remind our new mixers that the best approach when starting out with a recipe is the simple one. Pick a profile you want to make, pick the 3-5 flavors that make up the majority of the profile, then add just a couple flavors in the small percentages to give the juice a little something more. This isn't a difficult hobby unless you make it so.
And here I was thinking you'd forgotten how to post recipes. <3
Good write up, pal. I've always been guilty of over-thinking things in the past. New me has been sticking with 2-5 flavors. Sometimes 6. My most recent public one utilizes two flavors. Sometimes it's best to let the more interesting flavors speak for themselves.
Nah, just lost the spark I had. But you know that. Slumps are a bitch.
I feel that so hard. A few months ago I was talking to someone through this sub about possibly working together to really nail a few recipes simply to have a solid rotation of ADVs for ourselves and friends. After a few back and forth conversations, I realized I was talking to a man obsessed with the double digit recipes. Literally one of his recipes had 0.01% of some flavor, along with 17 other flavors. I just can't hang with that shit.
My best recipes are literally 2-4 flavours. And I'm learning to keep it that way.
This post couldn't have been timed better. The last week or so I've started an exercise in making juice with 5 or less flavors, and less than 10% flavoring. I think that the percentage of a particular flavor is sometimes less important than the relative percentage of that flavor compared to other flavors, as evidenced by your flavor base. Forcing myself to mix under 10% drives home that point.
Right on, I've also been trying to keep the numbers of flavors in my mixes down as of late, but I would caution about being too strict with yourself concerning the percentage of total flavoring. Not all concentrates are as strong as we'd like them to be, so it may be too restrictive or even produce mixes that aren't up to snuff if also low-percentages are a hard goal. I'd say keep the number of ingredients as low as possible, but give yourself some freedom with the percentages. Either way, nice one, I agree with you on keeping recipes simple, as I'm trying to do the same!
Very cool! I'll have to try this sometime. I still personally believe that blue raspberry is juicy peach+sweet raspberry but I can see how this would make a very convincing blue raspberry flavoring.
What percentage do you like this at on its own?
And yes, INW Raspberry can get very offensive as I've learned.
The real question is, are you using INW raspberry Wera Garden or Malina?
Excellent point on the importance of simplicity. It's very easy to get overly involved in perfecting a taste; a little of this, some of that, throw a bit of this in, then you have a 12-ingredient recipe that still isn't quite right. Once you realize how complicated you've made things, you're sitting on the floor , surrounded by every flavor concentrate you own, sniffing them like a glue junkie trying to find the missing flavor.
Great post, boiiiiii.
I'll get some Raspberry Sweet from my local shop if they have it & let you know how this is when I'm no longer sick & can taste shit again.
I love raspberry sweet in my strawberry creams. BTW, I got Holy Vanilla in the mail. It's pretty decent.
I've played around before with using raspberries to tweak peach, I enjoy it here & there. About time tho. Just pretty dexent?
Great write up and way to get me to buy more flavors!
Any way I can sub flv boysen? Will fa billbery work? I want to try this asap but that's the only flavor I'm missing.
FA WilliamBerry won't work. It's too earthy tasting. FLV Boys'N'Berry is more of a....Kool-Aid powder taste, if that makes sense.
The closest might be TFA Acaí. Maybe even FA Black Currant, but that's straying pretty far away from the FLV taste.
As someone who hasn't mixed yet (just preparing my orders now) Ive spent hours pouring over these threads regarding which flavours/brands to buy. I have these flavours on my to buy list, but I see a few posts that speak of INW Raspberry as being "offensive" or whatever. Do you think these are the type of flavours that are "too advanced" for a beginning mixer or is it a case of using them sparingly and with respect for their intensity? I have quite a few INW's on my list :)
Thanks very much for this recipe! I really appreciate these ones that are simple, yet obviously, well researched and presented. If I may, as a last question...EM....have read so many times to stay away from it, especially as a new mixer, but your notes clearly show its use here is required. So what EM should be used/ordered? Are you referring to TFA's Cotton Candy or is there actually an EM I haven't yet seen in my research. Thanks again!
EM (ethyl maltol) can be bought as a TFA concentrate, I believe it's 10% ethyl maltol crystals dissolved into PG.
I wouldn't say INW Raspberry is too advanced, you just need to keep it low. Short aging time, it mellows out after a few days when mixed with certain flavors, in my experience. 1% is pretty damn strong for me and overpowers the mix. I usually just 0.5-0.75% if i need it to stand out.
I just use cotton candy, but stay away from it for now. I know how and when to use it, and am very critical of juices in which I use it. You have to harden yourself to the effects of sweetener, that way you don't assume you need it all the time.
As for inawera, a lot of them are very advanced flavors, and as a new mixer I'd suggest sticking with CAP, TFA, and FA. At least until you get a better understanding of flavors and how to gauge how strong a flavor is without having to mix with it. INW makes great concentrates that being your juice to the next level if used right, but will turn everything to shit if you not.
>This is a flavor base, not a finished juice.
I missed this as I just glanced at the recipe and almost had a heart attack when I saw the 25% EM.
Great write up and fantastic message about fewer flavors. I'm working on a cranapple clone and so far I have it narrowed down to 3 flavors. Mixes don't have to be overly complex!
Does it taste similar to this
