How did vanilla ice cream smell like beaver buttocks? it started with a rumor nine years ago.

Worried that the next person complained that the order was too slow, he hurriedly ordered the least error-prone flavor: vanilla ice cream.

Although the main flavor compound is vanillin, the pure vanilla extract also contains hundreds of other flavor compounds, which is the reason for its complex and rich flavor.

But if you Google vanilla flavouring, it's not the vanilla explanation that appears in the headlines, it's the beaver's ass.

What's going on?

The person who first discovered the problem was a Tik Tok user, Sloowmoee, who took a selfie of a reaction video about searching for where the vanilla came from.

In the video, Sloowmoee tastes a mouthful of vanilla latte, then finds the "answer" and shouts, "No more vanilla!"

Tik Tok hot video: vanilla truth response

Great, the video is hot all over the network, and everyone began to follow the wind to shoot a short video of "Vanilla Truth". In addition, this kind of curiosity "truth" itself is easy to take rhythm, and immediately becomes a rumor to spread.

The pot that makes vanilla disgusting has to be memorized by National Geographic magazine.

The National Geographic article, entitled "mucus from beaver buttocks for vanilla seasoning," was first released in 2013.

Because its search position is very high, and National Geographic is a more authoritative popular science magazine, it is easy for people who find it to believe that this is the truth of vanilla.

This story is not only spread abroad, but also spread badly at home, and then it is used by various marketing accounts as "daily cold knowledge" to earn traffic, including some big yellow and blue V.

You wanted to browse Weibo and eat Vanilla Ice Cream happily, but you saw something you shouldn't have seen and just wanted to spit it out.

How does the beaver's ass have anything to do with vanilla?

In the ancient West, humans collected drugs directly from animals and plants, and beavers' buttocks were not spared.

To be exact, it is a pair of cystic glands near the reproductive organs, full of reddish-brown creamy fluid. After being exposed to the sun, it becomes a resin-like substance called castoreum.

At that time, Beaver incense was used as a natural medicine to treat epilepsy, constipation, spider bites and so on. Some Romans lit it for smoking as a tool for induced labor.

The demand for beaver glands and flesh makes it difficult for beavers to survive in Europe. By the end of the Middle Ages, most of the beavers in Europe had been hunted. When the Europeans colonized North America, they were ecstatic to find that there were plenty of beavers there.

At this time, North American beavers were developed into a new product-perfume. Perfume historian Mandy Aftel describes it as "a sexy, a dark" smell.

Scientifically speaking, it is the aroma of a combination of beaver balsam, volatile oil, cholesterol, benzoin acid, phenols and calcium carbonate.

This kind of incense has been developed into a food condiment, but it is true that most people can't afford it. In the Middle Ages, it was used as a luxury seasoning at banquets.

By the early 20th century, some seasoners used beaver incense in desserts. Until the 1970s, beaver incense was still used as a fragrance, such as vanilla ice cream, drinks, candy, cakes and chewing gum. Cigarette makers have also tried to add beaver incense, just to add a whiff of luxury.

But its usage is very low, with no more than 1/100000 additions in the same product.

Even today, it is so luxurious that most people will be prohibitive of its price. On Etsy, you can find prepared beaver incense at a very touching price of $9 per milliliter. Do you still want to use it as spice?

Seeing this, in fact, most people should understand that this thing is so extravagant, how can it be put in Vanilla Ice Cream, which is worth more than ten yuan in the supermarket?

If you really give beaver incense to the whole Vanilla Ice Cream, the price of a Vanilla Ice Cream ball must not be increased more than 10 times.

However, the biggest reason for manufacturers to reduce the use of beaver incense is not the price or the scarcity of beavers, but because rabbi Jews feel their buttocks are not clean.

In 1982, according to the American Flavor extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA), 683 pounds of beaver incense was used for seasoning in the United States. By 1987, that figure had fallen to less than 250 pounds. By the 1990s, beaver basically disappeared in the food supply chain.

Therefore, it is almost impossible for you to eat processed food of beaver incense today in 2022. Of course, just in case, if you do eat Vanilla Ice Cream containing beaver incense, you must tell me in the message area that I must try it.