Where does vanilla flavor come from
After reading this you may never want to go near strawberry and vanilla flavor again, or maybe never trust natural flavors again. Why exactly? The “natural” vanilla flavor comes from a beavers backside (strawberry too). If that’s not bad enough for you, wait until you read about the substance.
Have you ever wondered where does vanilla flavor come from. Or what the natural flavors in ingredients are or where they come from? Manufacturers, in an effort to protect their secret recipe, and maybe hide the truth from an unwitting public, will often say their products contain natural flavoring. But the natural flavoring isn’t always what you think it is. Take for example a common flavor such as vanilla or strawberry. Most people would imagine that they would come from vanilla bean and strawberry plants. But you could not be further from the truth. To be completely honest it is really rather disgusting. The anal glands of the beaver is responsible for vanilla flavor, not to forget mentioning strawberry as well.
Where does vanilla flavor come from in a beaver?
The beavers gland is filled with a substance called castoreum. Serious warning! If you enjoy the flavoring or smell from “natural” vanilla or strawberry, or you are digging into a tasty desert, do not read any further. Castoreum is a yellowish secretion of the castor sac and the beavers urine. This beaver bi-product has also been used extensively in perfumes and has also been used for flavoring foods for at least 80 years.
So the next time you read on an item that it contains natural flavor, it might not be what you had in mind. There’s a really good chance that the strawberry or vanilla is a beavers anal gland secretions.
