Natural flavor base and process for its preparation

A process for preparing a natural savory flavor base composition, the process comprising:

• culturing a bacterial strain in a culture medium to produce and accumulate L-proline and/or a derivative thereof in the culture medium to a concentration of at least 1.0 wt % of the culture medium;
• adding a reducing sugar to the culture medium after the culturing of the bacterial strain;
• and
• thermally reacting the culture medium, after the adding of the reducing sugar, at a temperature from 75-170° C. for at least 5 minutes;
• wherein the reducing sugar is added to the culture medium in an amount of 1:5 to 10:1 (w/w) ratio sugar:proline.