This beaver-produced vanilla-like goo/secretion is called castoreum and is a mixture of different chemicals. Beavers have two scent glands used for marking their territory and yes one of them smells and tastes like vanilla. 1999) can the mushroom produce my vanilla ice cream cheaper than the orchid? Then there is beaver butt. There have even been studies to test the synthesis of vanillin by mushrooms ( Lomascolo et al. There is a push for finding alternative вЂњnaturalвЂќ ways of production. Most synthetic vanillin is derived from the more complex chemical lignin which is obtained from wood waste (Converti et al. The cultivation of vanillin via Vanilla planifolia is quite expensive and so the vast majority of commercial vanilla is actually synthetically created. Today Mexico continues to be a big producer of vanilla along with Madagascar, Indonesia, and China.Д«y Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (Beaver- Steve Hersey edit), via Wikimedia Commons Vanillin continues to be popular for a wide range of uses: as a flavoring, as an aphrodisiac, and medicinally (for treatments ranging from fever to hysteria) (Bythrow 2005). The Aztecs used vanilla to flavor their drink chocolat. Early Mayan cultures were the first to develop a curing process and used vanilla mixed with Copalli resin aromatically in thier sa cred temples. Other plants, such as tobacco, do contain vanillin but only in trace amounts (Walton et al. The chemical vanillin is extracted from immature pods of the vanilla orchid (Elpel 2013). It belongs to the Orchid familyВ Orchidaceae, the largest family of flowering plants. The vanilla orchid Vanilla planifolia is native to Mexico.

I found out that the chemical compound vanillin is responsible for the giving vanilla that distinctive vanilla taste and that it comes from the pod (called the vanilla bean) of the tropical vanilla orchid Vanilla planifolia. I had heard the term вЂњvanilla beanвЂќ-did that mean that vanilla came from a legume? I had also heard that some vanilla flavoring came from beaver buttsвЂ“ but that couldnвЂ™t possibly be true! I decided to do my own research and get to the bottom of this. To be honest, I never really knew what made vanilla vanilla. High prices in natural vanilla flavoring have driven a search for alternatives.

Where does vanilla flavoring come from