Water, alcohol, and vanilla beans are the main ingredients in real vanilla extract. To meet FDA regulations, pure vanilla extract must contain at least 35% alcohol and 13.35 ounces of vanilla beans per gallon or 100 grams per liter. Once the mixture has cured, the solids are filtered out and the liquid that remains is bottled and sold. Commercial manufacturers are able to manipulate the environment to reduce this time period considerably. It can take up to 12 months for vanilla extract to cure (though our recipe below only takes 1 month). The alcohol mixture helps pull this flavoring from the dried beans along with that signature brown coloring and other compounds that lend themselves to the final flavor of the product. Aging the beans, which involves keeping them in a hot, humid environment for several days, increases the concentration of vanillin. This is what gives vanilla its signature smell and flavor. The vanilla beans in these pods contain a molecule called vanillin. In this case, that solid product is made up of aged vanilla bean pods. Like other extracts, vanilla extract is made by soaking a solid product in a mixture of alcohol and water. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about vanilla extract, its less glamorous cousin castoreum, and give you our simple homemade vanilla extract recipe (100% vegan and 100% castoreum-free!). This simple flavoring product usually contains only a few ingredients and none of them are derived from animal products.īut why, then, are so many people concerned that vanilla isn’t safe for vegans to eat? Well, the answer lies with a strange substance known as castoreum-a decidedly unvegan and nearly not-safe-for-work flavoring extract. So, is vanilla extract vegan? Yes, vanilla extract, whether made from real vanilla or artificial ingredients, is vegan. If you’re following a vegan diet, then you probably should know whether this common ingredient is plant-based or not. And while for some just tasting the vanilla flavor regardless of where it came from may be enough.Vanilla extract is a staple in so many baked goods and sweet treats. The next time you go to the freezer to indulge in some vanilla ice cream or reach for some vanilla flavoring to pour into your morning cup of coffee you might reflect back on whether or not the vanilla you are putting in your mouth is really vanilla at all. Wood pulp is another common ingredient used to make artificial vanilla flavoring. However the most common is produced via a petrochemical process that yields synthetic vanillin called vanillylmandelic acid. Artificial vanilla flavoring can be crafted using a variety of different chemical compounds. In fact, according to Business Insider, only five percent of the vanilla-flavored foods we consume today are made with real vanilla. In contrast to using beaver secretions, making vanilla flavoring from a mixture of synthetic compounds is widely practiced today as a cheaper alternative to using actual beans. If you’re still grossed out, you’re in luck because castoreum is mainly used for vanilla fragrances these days. And it’s easy to see why it remained a well-kept secret for so long because, believe it or not, castoreum actually gives off a sweet odor strikingly akin to vanilla.
In fact, it was largely unknown that beaver secretions were used at all until a National Geographic study from 2014 put it front and center. The castoreum is what is used in part to make artificial vanilla flavoring and is collected through milking the beaver’s glands.Īs repulsive as this all sounds, it is actually something that has been in practice for over eight decades and has been deemed a completely safe ingredient to use by the FDA. Castoreum is a gelatinous brown substance that beavers secrete from their back ends and use as means of marking their territories. A beaver’s anal glands produce something called castoreum. Unbeknownst to many, beaver anal secretions have long been used as an additive in making vanilla flavoring compounds. Which New Jersey Metro Area Is Best To Live In To Escape The High Rent Prices Of New York City? BEAVER SECRETIONS
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