(Not new...but) Artificial vanilla flavoring is probably NOT made from Beaver butt goo

[underpants]

My daughter brought this up so I had to check I out.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/castoreum/

PUBLISHED 5 FEBRUARY 2013

Because of its scent properties castoreum has long been employed in the perfume-making industry, and processed forms of castoreum have also been used as food additives, in the latter case primarily as enhancers of vanilla, strawberry and raspberry flavorings found in products such as iced tea, ice cream, gelatin, candy, fruit-flavored drinks, and yogurt.

The use of castoreum in common food products today is exceedingly rare, in large part because collecting the substance is difficult (and therefore expensive):

According to Fernelli’s Handbook of Flavor Ingredients, total annual national consumption of castoreum, castoreum extract, and castoreum liquid combined is only about 292 pounds, which works out to an average of less than a millionth of a pound per person in the U.S. Compare that figure with the approximately 20 million pounds of vanilla naturally harvested from real vanilla beans every year. Depending upon as scarce a substance as castoreum to flavor the ice cream and candy found on store shelves would create nationwide shortages of those items and drive up their prices beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest consumers.

In 2011, the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) queried five companies that produce vanilla flavorings about whether they used any castoreum in their products, and all five replied that they did not:

[Wounded Bear]

1. So, it's beaver butt juice...yummy...

[Blue_true]

5. Have you ever noticed the "vanilla" smell in your feces?

Mammals produce a vanilla-like substance in the gut track, from what I understand.

[ProudLib72]

7. Errr, tried that once and passed out immediately

I'm pretty sure that what my gut is producing is nowhere near "vanilla."

[Blue_true]

8. Try drinking a lot of water. I smell it often when me stole is soft.

When a person's stole is hard, the body has loaded it up with lots of stuff that it wants to get rid of, and the stole most likely is low on water content.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Artificial vanilla flavoring was once made from lignin waste from papermaking ...

and there are researchers today seeking new ways to convert lignin to vanillin.

The current process for synthesizing vanillin starts from a petrochemical. It's much cheaper than getting vanillin from beans, much less beaver butt glands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanillin#Chemical_synthesis

[sir pball]

4. Artificial vanilla is an abomination. A culinary war crime, even.

Real vanilla is anything but "plain" - it's one of the most complex flavors known, there's something like 250 identified compounds in a bean.

Yes, it's predominantly vanillin, but those other 249 chemicals change it from a vaguely unpleasant whiff only slightly reminiscent of a fresh baked cookie into the nectar of Apicius. It's by far my favorite flavor, in both sweets and savory. Try mixing a little into butter and putting a dollop on nice halibut or cod

[Vinca]

3. I'll stick with real vanilla extract, thank you very much.

A millionth of a pound of beaver butt whatever is a millionth of a pound too much. LOL.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. No matter where artificial vanilla flavoring comes from,

it's not at all good.

Stick to the real thing. You won't regret it.