Melanoids

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Substances produced during the Maillard reaction that contribute to the color and flavor of various cooked foods
2. Compounds formed through non-enzymatic browning, impacting the sensory properties of baked and roasted products
3. Molecules responsible for coloration and taste that develop when sugars and amino acids react under heat during cooking

Etymology: "Melanoids" is the plural of "melanoid," a noun for the brown compounds that form when sugars and amino acids react during cooking, the chemistry behind browning on toast, roasted coffee and seared meat. The name is built from "melan-," from Greek "melas," meaning "black" or "dark," and the suffix "-oid," from Greek "eidos," meaning "form" or "resembling." A melanoid is therefore something dark-coloured in appearance, a name that describes the substance by its look rather than by its chemical makeup. The plural form simply counts more than one such compound, since the browning reaction produces a whole family of them rather than a single substance. The same "melan-" element appears in older scientific coinages such as "melanin," the dark pigment in skin and hair, which shows how the Greek root for black has been reused across chemistry and biology.