Who has not enjoyed when they have had the opportunity to smell and use the dark real vanilla podsa prodigious pre-Columbian spice that gives to the recipes an aroma that is difficult to surpass in exquisiteness and finesse.
Of course, it has little to do with the usual vanilla substitute, a white sugar flavored with synthetic vanillinwidely distributed in desserts, ice creams, yogurts and other commercial products.
The synthetic vanillin or «vanilla flavor» Not only does it not have the intense flavor of natural vanilla, but it has been often surrounded by controversy due to its composition. A hoax has even recently resurfaced about the supposed presence of beaver anus secretions in its composition.
This substitute also does not have the properties of vanilla authentic, which is considereddigestive and whose pleasant aroma is associated with a soft effect sexual stimulant. Other sources suggest that it is capable of calming people who are upset due to its calming effect. It is also attributed certain expectorant and aperitif capacity.
In this article we tell where does vanilla flavor come from, Where does the artificial flavor come from? and also What is true about the latest controversy of vanilla and the use of beaver secretions to imitate its flavor.
Where does the vanilla flavor come from?
We can get the vanilla flavor naturally using real vanilla beans directly or natural vanilla extract or essence obtained from them, or resorting to one of its substituteswhich are nothing more than synthetic vanilla, with a much less intense flavor. These are what is usually used by the food industry and also what we mostly find in supermarkets in the form of vanilla extract, vanilla essence or vanilla sugar.
vanilla beans
The Vanilla planifolia or fragrans It is a liana from the orchid family that climbs the large trees of the Central American jungles.
There are one hundred species of vanilla orchids, but only three are cultivated.. The most appreciated is the call «Bourbon»like the island where it began to be cultivated, today called La Réunion, north of Madagascar. Also that of Tahiti whose flavor is slightly reminiscent of anise and pepper, and finally the «vanillon» of the Antilleswith a musky aroma.
Their flowers They are ivory white, slightly yellow or green, they have a very short life and intense aroma.
The fruit is a pod that even picked at full maturity does not give off any odor. Must undergo various manipulations to acquire its indescribable aromas.
After blanch the vanilla beans They are briefly placed in padded boxes, where they remain for about 48 hours. in them they ferment and darken. After a week of exposure to the sun, its aromatic force is released. And later they continue to mature inside some wooden trunks that are placed for several months in a well-ventilated room.
From vanilla beans can be obtained vanilla essence or natural vanilla extractbut natural essences and extracts tend to have a very high price and those usually sold in supermarkets have little vanilla and numerous additives.
The scent of vanilla It’s so intoxicating that even can cause dizziness, headaches and skin allergies in those who handle the pods daily (this medical condition is known as «vanillism»).
where does artificial vanilla scent come from
The excellent aroma of vanilla beansas precious as it is expensive to obtain, was soon chemically imitatedalthough none of its substitutes achieve the delicate flavor of real vanilla.
The main vanilla substitute currently is ethylvanillin, which is obtained by transforming sucrose, paper pulp or coal tar. This byproduct of the paper industry is used not only for food, but also for perfumery.
Furthermore, the terminology contributes to confusion because call this synthetic aroma vanillinthe same name as the crystals that form naturally in the pods of real vanilla.
Vanillin, however, is only one of the active ingredients of real vanilla. Its unique flavor is created by the presence of other components.
For this reason, there is no real substitute for real vanillaalthough substitutes are tested through genetic manipulation.
How to know if a product contains natural or artificial vanilla
Any product called «vanillado» owes its aroma to natural vanillawhile those called «vanillin», «vanillinated» (or vanilline) «vanilla flavored» are artificial and are flavored with synthetic vanilla.
Vanilla, beaver and hoaxes
Recently a television report raised the controversy over the use of substances from the beaver’s anus in «vanilla flavor» products that we usually take. The report later qualified the statement but the networks burned for a few days.
The controversy is not new, and it’s a hoax that vanillin is obtained from the secretions of the beaver’s anus, but like many hoaxes is based on a fact that has later been distorted.
When cheaper and easier to obtain alternatives to vanilla began to be sought in the sixties of the 20th century, one of the solutions that the North American food industry found was to use a small amount of castoreum, a substance obtained from small bags that beavers have between their anus and tail.
Those little bags are not, in fact, the glands of the beaver’s anuswhose content will surely not have a very pleasant smell, but rather small receptacles in which the beaver accumulates a yellowish fatty substance that it makes from the herbs it eats and that gives off a musky and herbal fragrance.
Beavers use this substance to spread it on their skin. and protect it, but it wasn’t that easy a resource to obtain… and it certainly wasn’t cheap either. Furthermore, it is not that the castoreum tasted like vanilla, but rather that its musky notes allowed it to improve other artificial flavors with which the flavor of this spice was imitated, but also of strawberry and raspberry.
Therefore, although castoreum was widely used in the sixties and seventies in North America, Other alternatives were immediately sought and it didn’t take long for a way to produce synthetic vanilla to be found. from other sources. “Vanillin,” as synthetic vanilla is often known, was always synthetic.