Thank you to everyone who made last week's Flavor of The Week, Custard Apples, a great discussion, even though it often was a little off-topic. Anyone mixed up that BBQ Sauce recipe since then?
As always, the purpose of this thread is to gather the community to explore a flavor and its many uses. And it's also to have FUN!
Post recipes containing this week's Flavor of the Week, as the star or in a supporting role, with or without development notes. Talk about other people's recipes that use it. Compare and contrast different manufacturers' versions of the FOTW. Ask for help using that flavor in general or to achieve something specific, offer advice, brainstorm ideas, consider substitutions, suggest pairings... really anything at all as long as it's on topic.
This week's flavor is: Berry Blends (Examples: FA Forest Fruit, CAP Harvest Berry, TFA Mixed Berry, FW Magma Current)
Past FOTW posts can be found here
Prepare yourselves, next week's FOTW will be: Kiwi
The week after that will be: Pineapple
The week after that will be: Blackberry
The week after that will be: Cucumber
The week after that will be: Peanut Butter
The week after that will be: Coffee
The week after that will be: ??? You tell me. Please take this opportunity to suggest one that interests you (or send me a PM to do that). Otherwise I'm going to pick something like passionfruit or papaya just because I feel like doing Ps. Edit: More P's from /u/tranceinate: Pistachio, pandoro, panetonne, pumpkin, pasta, paprika, parfait, pastry, pesto, pickle, potato, praline, pretzel, pulled pork, pizza, pancake, pie, pie crust, pie filling, peppers, plantain, pudding.
oh i dread this.. the downvotes are not going to be fun but:
my ADV for the past 2 years:
CAP harvest berry @ 15%.
this was one of my first CAP flavors after being pretty exclusively TFA.. the pop of flavor was so intense the first time I tried it, I was hooked. I have gone as low as 5% and that low the flavor is subtle and more depth.. at 15% I NEVER get vape tounge or if I do, the flavor is so strong that my nose picks it up, so I can ADV for years on this stuff and never get sick of it, or lose the taste.
my wife now actively avoids mixed berry or raspberry ( supposedly not in this blend, but does resemble raspberries) due to smelling it from me for this long. I however, cannot get enough of this flavor.
ok, bash me all you want for the single overflavored suggestion, but it's what is working well for me for quite some time.
Hey, if it works for you, work it. Isn't that what DIY is all about?
true. but sad.. i have hundreds of flavors sitting here getting old cause i cant be bothered to vape any other flavor. I Guess my mind treats it like it did with cigs.. there is one flavor, you will love it, you will crave it, it will be your master. lol
I've wondered that about vaping but never bothered to ask. Every smoker I've ever known including myself picked one variety of one brand and stuck with it to the point that others would satisfy the nic craving but would taste abhorrent. The same would seem to be true of vaping, but when it comes to juice, I crave variety as much as I craved my one cigarette type, if not more. And that seems to be a common experience (except in your case, ya weirdo). It would seem that you'd be the norm and I'd be the anomaly based on smokers' habits, but the opposite appears to be true. I wonder, Why?
For lazy shake n vape mixers such as myself Harvest Berry, Forest fruit etc are a godsend. I always have a 100ml of some combination that features one of them on the go. They're great bases to experiment with other fruit flavors on top.
Add a little cream of some kind, or menthol/koolada (or personally the INW Eucalyptus Mint and Cold pressed Lime Tahiti CP are my current favorites) and you have multiple combinations of quick, tasty flavors you can knock up and vape in 5 minutes.
- FA Forest Fruit makes your teeth squeak like crazy
- CAP Harvest Berry easily overpowers everything.
Two case studies:
Looma by /u/christopherson
Brand | Flavor | % ---|---|----|---- CAP | Harvest Berry | 5.5 | FA | Forest Fruit | 4.5| INW | Raspberry | 0.5 INW | Cactus | 0.6 FA | Fuji | 0.3
It's somehow a massive overkill on FA Forest Fruit and CAP Harvest Berry, but it works wonderfully. It's got a LOT of that signature teeth squeak from FA Forest Fruit, and I think that's why it reminds me (and others) of bubble gum.
Arcadia by me
Brand|Flavor|% :---|----|---: TPA | Blueberry Extra|4 CAP| Butter Cream|1 TPA |10% Ethyl Maltol|1 CAP |Creamy Yogurt|2 TPA| Greek Yogurt|4 CAP |Harvest Berry|1 FA |Kiwi|1.5
I don't really have any elaborate notes on this one, aside from that it's got a very nice balance and it perhaps demonstrates how strong CAP Harvest Berry is, it's only at 1% but it shines through to the very front of the recipe. When you strike that balance though..
I've had Looma on my list of things to try for way too long to have not gotten around to it yet. /u/NotCharlesManson's description of it as "grape Big League Chew" is intriguing.
Has anyone tried TFA Mixed Berry? Just wondering if it's worth picking up when I already have CAP harvest berry and FA forest mix.
DirtyP asking the important questions. I'd like to know this too, mainly because it keeps coming up in the "what can I make with these flavors?" thread and I don't know what to suggest doing with it.
I found varying degrees of feedback about this flavour.
From diy-ejuice.com:
> Highly recommend this line and juice flavour for its clean taste and spot on flavour profile.
> Made the error of thinking it would be like Harvest Berry, it is not. Smells like nail polish. Could just be 10% is way to much for this flavour I'll try another batch later and edit if anything changes.
> It's Exellent like it
Vaporeyes:
> Has a pleasant artificial profile, like berry flavoured hard candy. Acidic taste reminiscent of ascorbic acid powder used as a desiccant for said hard candy.
> If you like berries, can't have better then this love it......
> One of my favourites
Not much to go on tbh...
I'm always missing out on the fun. I don't have any berry blends yet. Which do you all recommend? I've been eyeing harvest berry for a while now.
Forest Fruit. Just search ATF for it for an idea of how it's used, such as in /u/CheebaSteeba's Berry Creamy, Skidlz's Cliche, /u/ediblemalfunction 's Backwoods Lemonade, and all those things /u/runtdastardly has done with it. Plus it's delicious even just as a standalone around 3%.
That Looma recipe that /u/altneurose reposted here is really interesting though, and his own Arcadia recipe as well, so maybe a better answer is both Harvest Berry and Forest Fruit.
Gotcha. Should I just 4oz it? Sounds pretty versatile.
Why anyone would go from zero to 4 oz mystifies me. Haven't you bought a concentrate that others raved about but just didn't do it for you? You could but a sample and if you really liked it, buy more.
I am a fan of Forest Fruit, too. I recommend you get 16 oz.
For like my first 6 months mixing I just vaped 3.5% CAP Harvest Berry and 4% CAP NY Cheesecake.
Are we missing out by not having tried that because it was just so good that you didn't want to vape anything else for six months?
It's definitely a solid simple recipe. It was my answer to mustard milk because I couldn't taste strawberries. I've expanded on it since then. Just crawling in bed now, but remind me later when I'm on Telegram to follow up and I'll post all my development notes and shit.
A simple mixed berry cheesecake good for all seasons.
My first renditions of this juice were one of my first projects as a new mixer. I started with just the Harvest Berry at 3.5% and the CAP NY Cheesecake by itself at 4%. With just those two flavors it was satisfying to me as a new mixer and I relied on this staple mix for 6 months as I developed my skillset and collected new flavors. The 2 flavor version of this is still something I go back to when I am short on time on mixing day and I just want to get something bottled up.
The Cheesecake base: Equal parts CAP NY Cheesecake and TFA Cheesecake (Graham Crust) gives a perfect balance of cheesy filling and adds a starter base for the graham cracker crust crumble. CAP Sweet Cream finishes our cheesecake base with a little added "cheesy" cream depth to finish the profile. TFA Graham Cracker (Clear) adds some depth the crust base started with TFA Cheesecake (Graham Crust)
The Berries: CAP Harvest Berry is the real star here. A bright mix of blackberry, blueberry, raspberry and strawberry. I get mostly the blackberry and raspberry from it, but others perceive more strawberry. I found that with the bulked version of the cheesecake base that even at 3.5% Harvest Berry just wasn't showing through as much as I wanted, so it's bolstered by it's FA counterpart Forrest Mix. Another berry blend with a very similar profile it's a perfect fit. At 1.25% it's just enough to drive those berry notes to the top, but without getting muddy or perfumey, which is what I got if I started taking Harvest Berry up to the 4% or higher range. If you want a little more variety you can easily sub the Forrest Mix for FW Blueberry, your favorite Strawberry, FA Raspberry, or a splash of citrus like TFA Key Lime, INW Lime, INW/FE Lemon, or FA Lemon Sicily
- CAP Harvest Berry 3.5%
- FA Forrest Mix 1.25%
- TFA Cheesecake (Graham Crust) 3%
- CAP NY Cheesecake 3%
- TFA Graham Cracker (Clear)
- CAP Sweet Cream 1.5%
Oh man that looks amazing, and unlike most great-looking recipes I'm not missing anything to make that. I can't wait to give that a try when I have my Harvest Berry and Forest Fruit out to finally try that Looma that I'm apparently abusing myself by not having tasted.
Steep time recommendation on this one?
Love FA Forest Fruit at 3.5%, any lower or higher or if mixed with anything and it disappears on me almost completely. Harvest Berry is a bit more workable.
It goes away at 4%?
I just mixed up a standalone at 6% so I'll tell you tonight
That seems like an excessive amount for Forest Fruit. Like many FA flavors, it's strong enough to (in my experience) be one of the main flavors in a recipe at 2%. I wouldn't go over 4% with it without someone I trust telling me to try it (which is why I'm willing to give it a go at 4.5% in that Looma recipe). All I'm saying is, I'm looking forward to your 6% impressions but please don't judge that flavor as a bad one if you don't like it that high - try it again at 2 to 4%
CAP Harvest Berry is straight up medicine. I can't stand the stuff, but I know /u/Vurve digs it. FA Forest Fruit however, is straight bangin.
GET DOXED is my recipe including it.
- TPA Blueberry Extra at 3.5%
- TPA Dragonfruit at 1%
- FA Forest Fruit at 1.25%
- FA Fuji at 3%
- JF Juicy Lemon at 1%
- TPA Marshmallow at 0.5%
Have you tried the Harvest Berry standalone and various percents and found even the lowest ones to be offensively medicinal?
Yeah man. I've tried it standalone and just didn't enjoy the flavour all that much, and then in recipes, it just ALWAYS takes over the entire mix and ends up tasting like goddamn cough syrup.
It's a shame because it smells absolutely delicious. But it has yet to work for me.
Sounds like /u/philosaphucker could have used a drop or two of this in his lean recipe.
I just mixed up a recipe with JF forest mix. I will try it and report back later!
Thank you! I haven't heard anything on that one yet. Have you tried FA Forest Fruit in order to be able to compare them?
This right here is why I love this sub.
I have FA Forest Fruit and I've been trying to figure out where it fits. To me it's very strawberry heavy but it's not exactly strawberry. The mix is fooling my senses I'm afraid.
Right now I'm trying to see if it has a spot in a "[Strawberry Pie] (http://images.media-allrecipes.com/userphotos/560x315/401339.jpg)" recipe I'm working on. When my mom was alive she would make this awesome Strawberry pie that also had raspberries and blueberries in it with gelatin/corn starch and such. I'd like to recreate it in a vape.
Can I request that we do coffee as FOTW sometime soon?
I've been searching for notes on coffees and such and it seems some of the coffee concentrates have been discontinued or changed over the years.
I think Forest Fruit might be perfect to mix with strawberry in a pie with multiple berries like that and damn that picture is mouthwatering. But, I haven't tried it mixed with any pastry ingredients like pie crust yet and don't recall seeing any examples of that, so you'll have to let as all know how it behaves. I bought it specifically to make a torte that uses a mixed berry jam but haven't gotten around to attempting that yet.
I'll add coffee to the list of upcoming FOTWs right now, thanks for the recommendation.
I love coffee I'm looking forward to that one
Coffee flavors are widely regarded as disappointing at best but I'm hoping something great will come out of it. I tried a couple of commercial coffee juices before DIY and they were almost traumatically terrible, so I haven't ventured into coffee yet. I hope to learn a thing or two that week.
I'm working on it but I'm having a hard time getting that pectin gelatin part right. In the original it's there to replace the sweet syrup you normally have with berries and hold them together so you can cut a slice.
The "gummys" I've tried aren't working and I'm missing that pectin "twang".
I have tried both cap harvest berry and fa forest fruit sft. I have found cap to be very "red" in flavor and fa to be a darker blue or black flavor if that makes sense. I like them both.
I tasted more blackberry than anything with Harvest Berry, followed by strawberry, way too much strawberry to use Harvest Berry as a blackberry flavor, and then just some hints of ripe blueberry and raspberry. So..... reddish purple? Magenta?
Forest Fruit: Blackcurrants mostly, darkly sweet and mildly tart, with some bloody ripe strawberry, and an apricot-like flavor, and some fresh blueberry way the back. The apricot-like flavor that I get from it standalone feels out of place with the berries but isn't unpleasant. It seems to disappear in a mix (the apricot part, not Forest Fruit, which is strong enough to be one of two main flavors in a mix at 2%). Definitely darker than Harvest Berry, more like the color of a dark bruise.
It could be my mind playing tricks on me because I know FA is made in Italy, but I swear Forest Fruit tastes very "European" while CAP Harvest Berry tastes almost aggressively American.
One of my favorite pairing with FA Forest Fruit is FLV Boysenberry
here is a WIP
| Ingredient | Percentage | | :--: | :--: | | FA Forest Fruit | 3% | | FLV Boysenberry | 2% | | INW Raspberry | 1% | | INW Cactus | .5% | | INW Strawberry Shisha | 3% | | TFA Strawberry Ripe | 2% |
I still have't found that perfect strawberry blend that doesn't get lost to my palate when mixed with FF. Shisha & Ripe work the best so far.
CAP Harvest Berry - not a fan of it. So many commercial juice co used it and they all tasted the same. Now (that I mix) I just find it to be so generic.
I'm mixing up a 120mL of this cause fuck it, I've been looking for a really satisfying fruity berry juice for almost a year now. I'm a big fan of INW raspberry with forest fruit, and I can see it working well with boysenberry and the strawberries. I'll report back and let you know what I think.
So my thoughts as promised. This is a really nice berry medley - though I ran out of shisha strawberry around 1% and filled it in with some cap sweet strawberry. Several days of steeping and testing I've found this hits a pretty great berry note. Slightly tart and dry however - I added a tiny amount of cap supersweet (yeah I know not the safest but gotta get rid of it) and some menthol and its pretty darn good now. Helped round out the notes and dryness just a tad. Quite enjoying this.
Ooooo Forest Fruit and Boysenberry sound great. That jammy thing that FLV Boysenberry has going on + Forest fruit? Yes.
Are you basing that WIP on something or just trying to make the most delicious berry blend you can?
The best berry blend. What do you mix it with?
FLV Cream and TFA Marshmallow in CheebaSteeba's recipe. I haven't done much with it yet, tasted it standalone at a few different %s, made some notes. Tried mixing it with VBIC and while the result was tasty, it wasn't anything to get super excited about. I bought it to make a specific type of mixed-berry jam from Germany but squirreled to another project that one fell by the wayside.
Fa forest fruit vs. JF forest mix.
This is almost a 1:1 replica. The only noticable difference is that the JF version is perhaps a tad sweeter. I will probably do a full review on the JF forest mix later just to be sure but after a shake and vape test at 6% I would say it's safe to use these interchangeably. JF when a sweeter mix is desired.
There may be some unexpected differences in certain recipes if they mix differently over time with the same flavors but I haven't tried that yet.
Edit: the best way to describe the difference is that the JF is a hollowed out version of FA. it's less complex and somehow "lighter" and sweeter. Otherwise pretty damn close. The overall feel and taste is nearly identical
So I don't measure much on my mixes lately. I like having different variations with a bit more/less of stuff, so my rough guess would be:
3 % TFA Watermelon 2% CAP Harvest Berry . 25% FLV Boysenberry . 25% FLV Strawberry . 5% FLV Watermelon
1 drop FLV Creme de Menthe 1 drops FLV Candy Roll 4 drops FLV Cool Menthol