Beaver anal secretions a vanilla substitute in some foods
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If stories about gross foods make you queasy, you may want to click away now. (May we suggest this adorable video about an elephant and dog who are best friends.)
If you have a hearty constitution and are still with us, we commend you. Consider yourself forewarned.
Recently, The Swedish National Food Agency confirmed what's long been a rumor on the internet: Anal secretions from beavers can be used as a vanilla-like flavoring in food.
The beaver's anal gland secretes Castoreum which can be used as a food additive.
According to Health.com, while it sounds downright disgusting, the FDA says it’s GRAS, meaning it’s “generally recognized as safe.” You won’t see this one on the food label because it’s generally listed as “natural flavoring.”
The story has been around on the internet for a while and gained attention in 2011 when chef Jamie Oliver talked about Castoreum on "The Late Show with David Letterman". Snopes.com has even evaluated the rumor and declared it true.
Consumer blog Savvy Saving Bytes wrote about Castoreum and found a food industry eBook published in 2005 that lists foods and beverages that may contain Castoreum extract. The list includes alcoholic beverages, baked goods, gelatins/puddings, ice cream, soft candy, chewing gum and more.
So the next you see "natural flavorings" listed as an ingredient on your favorite baked good or vanilla ice cream, try not to think about just how natural that flavoring might be.
I used to eat any kind of food, whether it was natural or processed and preserved with ingredients I couldn't pronounce. The plastic packaging gave me confidence that the food was fresh and safe. I'm moving away from the pink slime hamburgers from the fast food joints and prepared, packaged and processed foods. It takes me a little longer to prepare my meals, but at least I know what's in it. I was shocked to see how much sugar is in processed foods when I really started caring about what I was eating.
ReplyDeleteNew York's crappiest cup of coffee is also its most expensive.
ReplyDeleteAt $30 a cup, "Kopi Luwak" is made from beans collected from the droppings of a small, cat-like mammal called a civet.
The java - often called "cat poo coffee" - isn't everyone's cup of tea and was nearly banned in Indonesia this month for being unsanitary.
Some New Yorkers, though, are saying bottom's up to the strange brew. At coffee shops like Porto Rico in the West Village, the orders come about once a week, said owner Peter Longo, 58.
"At first I did not want to take it on," Longo said. "I thought it was kind of dirty because of where it comes from."
The pricey coffee originated in Indonesia and the Philippines, where folks noticed the civets eating coffee berries, collected their droppings and picked out the beans.
Coffee consultant Michael Peter, 26, of Tamp Tamp Coffee Lab in New York, said the cats' stomach acids produce a smooth-tasting brew.
Westerners took note and began exporting the kitty-poo joe stateside in the last few years, Peter said. Because of its unique processing, a pound can cost from $340 to $400.
The Daily News bought a quarter pound of the predigested joe and offered some to city coffee drinkers alongside a sample of Ethiopia Michelle, a fruity flavored coffee that goes for about $3.50 a cup.
Peter, who had studied the coffee's origin but had never tasted it, blended 20 ounces and took a sip for the first time.
"It tastes earthy, musty. I try to be partial, but when I think where it comes from, I can smell the feces," Peter said. "It's not worth the price."
Ben Lieberman, 28, a coffee shop manager from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was turned off after the first sip.
"It has a dirty taste to it," Lieberman said. "It's heavy. It's like, 'Dude you just crapped in my coffee.'"
Mona Shomali and her husband, Ian Atkins, both 31 from Hell's Kitchen, proved they're true coffee aficionados by sampling a mug.
"I definitely like the kitty poo coffee better," Shomali said.
Her husband wasn't planning to shell out the cash for it, though.
"I'll drink it free," Atkins said. "With that price, I don't see adding cat-pooped coffee to my kitchen shelves."
esandoval@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/plucked-civet-feces-cat-poo-coffee-nyc-expensive-30-cup-article-1.203820#ixzz2flWw02Em
Even worse that cat pooped coffee beans is cow chip tea. I've also heard of some country folks eating dirt.
ReplyDeleteIt's called Castoreum and annually less than 300 lbs is used. In comparison 2.6 million lbs of vanillin is used to made vanilla extract. If this really grosses you out that bad then you also need to stop using perfume and other scents. it is used by many top designers to give a hint of leather to their concoctions. And why not Castoreum contains phenols, lots of them. It's what makes animals attractive to others in it's own species. Damn scientists and marketing gurus they got us again.
ReplyDeleteI'm somewhat amused by the way our level disgust/outrage/shock is completely amped up by a totally irrational, visceral reaction to it. 1500 people killed in a chemical attack is somehow more heinous than the 100,000 people killed in the civil war that led to the attack. One soldier cutting the heart out of one enemy soldier and eating it on YouTube is more savage than a cruise missile accidentally killing hundreds of civilians. And now, using the butt juice of a beaver to flavor our food is super shocking and gross.
ReplyDeleteWe are the top of the food chain. Period. We use animals any and every way we sit fit. I remember walking into a "deli" in a Chinatown area in NY. They had what appeared to be duck vaginas hanging from the ceiling for sale as food. Duck vaginas ... wow. I thought to myself, "talk about total domination over a species." Beaver butt juice seems a bit tamer to me in comparison. I don't know why. It's visceral.
Here's an adjacently related question for the group, how hungry do you think our ancient ancestors had to be to look at a crab or a lobster and think, "Mmmm, I want to eat THAT ..."? Food for thought.
Good morning, everybody!
Good to see ya posting again Stormy and Rick :-)
Personally I don't eat crab and lobster. Although I like it, it is just too much work for what you get. I'll stick with fish and shrimp for my seafood. Way easier.
Deletepfunky,
Delete"1500 people killed in a chemical attack is somehow more heinous than the 100,000 people killed in the civil war that led to the attack."
I'll just respond to that by saying I agree with you. The rest of this particular article isn't, um, to my taste.
Jean
Lol ... Happy to eat the steak, but don't want to hear about how the cow is slaughtered, eh Jean?
Deletepfunk........."Food for thought". Humm, Pun maybe?
ReplyDeleteIndeed Rojay ;-)
DeleteBack to the article, I had no idea that the need for vanilla flavoring was in such demand that we are forced to turn to beaver butt juice as a substitute. One has to wonder what how the discovery of beaver butt juice as a viable vanilla flavoring was made.
More food for thought ...
Maybe somebody just had a fetish for milking beaver anuses. You know it takes all kinds of people to make up the wide, wide world.
DeleteI wonder who was the first to discover this delicacy? Personally I remain partial to beaver in general. Butt that's just me.
DeleteWhat is this, terrible pun week?
DeleteJean