Just Some Things About Food You Can Impress Your Friends With, And Other Things You’d Like To Forget

Artificial Vanilla Flavor Comes From Beaver Butts

The sickly-sweet flavor of vanilla many of us love to indulge in has…questionable origins. Most artificial vanilla flavor comes from a substance called castoreum, which is described as a “brown slime” and comes from the castor gland in a beaver and is located right underneath the beaver’s tail. That’s a little too close to the anal gland for comfort.

Castoreum has been used to flavor everything from gum to brownies to ice cream, but is now most commonly used in perfume. The FDA considers it a safe ingredient, but it will often be hiding under the term “natural flavoring” in a product’s list of ingredients.