If you ’ve been using societal media over the last ten class , you may have come across a doubtful and stomach - turning claim about the bloodline of vanilla flavoring . harmonise to this recurrent trend , the popular flavouring – in anything from ice cream to latte , and a innkeeper of other sweet treats – comes from the anal glands of beavers ! But before you run to the kitchen to bar all your favorite desserts , you should lie with that it is completely out of true – today , at least .
The substance that has caused this disputation is castoreum , a mucilaginous goo - like secretion produce bybeaversto mark their territories . Because it is waxy , the dam - building mammalian also use it to waterproof their fur . The beaver farm this chemical compound in theircastor sacs , possessed by both male and females , located between their pelvis and the base of their tails .
In most cases , an anal secernment would smell , well , as you would expect . This is because odor - producing bacteria in the gut give it a repellant smell – but beavers have a alone diet of leave-taking and bark which gives their special brand of tooshie juice amusky vanilla extract scent .
The sweet smell has been enjoyed by humans for hundred and used for various aesculapian function and remedies . Roman women would burn castoreum in clump and inspire the fumes in the Leslie Townes Hope they would produce anabortion(important short letter : it did n’t work ! ) . Francis Bacon , the sixteenth - century philosopher and stateman , recommendedsnorting small amounts of powdered castoreum to promote mental clarity .
It was then in the early 20th C that secretion begin to appear as a flavoring on the food market . It was used in a variety of cakes , sweets , ice creams , and chewing gumwood during the 1960s and 1970s , and was a flavor additive in many vanilla extract , strawberry , and raspberry recipe .
It is important to note that castoreum was never intend to replace these flavors ; it was used to enhance them and add additional profundity and intrigue to the taste . In the US , the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) still sanction castoreum as a safe nutrient additive and does n’t require maker to list all the ingredients in their additives , so this has lead elbow room for mistaking and speculation .
So , is it still used today ? Well , not really – and that ’s because it is highly difficult to develop in sufficient quantities for a wide market . To get castoreum , opera hat need to be anesthetized and essentially milk , which is unpleasant for everyone ask .
It is far easier and cheaper to rely on the far more abundant and avowedly less entertaining vanilla pods and artificial vanillin for flavoring . Today , the beaver secernment is more likely to come out in sweetness and perfumes than in any food you ’re likely to consume .
[ H / T : Business Insider ]
