Another natural ingredient that might make you retch is rennet. It traditionally came from the mucous membrane of the fourth stomach abomasum of young ruminants, such as calves, lambs and goats. The enzymes separate milk into curds and whey — a key stage in the manufacturing process.
Traditional rennet is still used today, although alternatives derived from mould, bacterial fermentation and plants such as nettles and ivy are increasingly common, if not slightly more palatable. We live in an era of unprecedented hygiene and expect our food to contain only the ingredients labelled on the packaging. But anyone who has foraged in the wild will know that nature likes to share its rich bounty. There is nothing surprising about taking a bite out of a freshly picked apple to find the remaining half of a presumably very upset insect.
Our basic foodstuffs are not grown in sterile conditions and so our diet is peppered with a variety of unintended side dishes, including soil, rodent hairs, faeces, mould, parasites and, of course, insects. The earthy nature of food production is acknowledged in the US through the publication of the Defect Levels Handbook that defines acceptable non-hazardous levels of these undisclosed morsels.
For example, two cupfuls of cornmeal may legitimately contain up to five whole insects, ten insect fragments, ten rodent hairs and five rodent poop fragments. It certainly puts that half-eaten apple into perspective. This was commonly used on the pelts of small animals, such as beavers, to make the fur softer.
While phased out from most industrial processes, mercury remains a significant air and water pollutant. Indeed, the release of industrial waste into the sea off the south coast of Japan resulted in the local population eating seafood containing methylmercury, the most toxic form of mercury.
Humans have a long history of consuming castoreum. Roman women inhaled the fumes of smoldering castoreum in an attempt to induce abortions. Francis Bacon, the 16th-century English polymath, recommended snorting a bit of powdered castoreum as a cure for brain-fog. When Europeans settled North America, with its abundant supply of beavers, they had another use for the animal: beaver-fur hats.
Living beavers, a keystone species, helped build the American landscape; dead beavers provided a foundation for American capital accumulation, and helped fund Western colonization. The Astors made their original fortune in beavers, before getting into Manhattan real estate.
The American beaver trade brought castoreum back into the spotlight, this time as a perfume. Castoreum could be found in beverages, baked goods, ice cream, candy, and especially in chewing gum. The Algonquins traditionally dusted their tobacco with dried castoreum, and, in the 20th century, so did cigarette manufacturers like Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds; it gave Camels and Winstons a distinguished, luxe aroma. In , that had dropped to just under pounds.
Castoreum was never fake vanilla or fake strawberry—not exactly. It was used in tiny amounts, usually less than ten parts per million, adding depth, intricacy, and intrigue to flavor compositions. In this way, castoreum is a quintessential secret ingredient, something that made a flavor better and more interesting, while eluding recognition.
In the s, the use of castoreum in flavors began to lag. Tobacco industry memos suggest that cigarette makers have also largely abandoned the substance. In some cases, genuine castoreum was probably replaced with cheaper synthetic chemicals. The Tamworth team is hardly the first company to toss a little castoreum into their recipe.
The secretion has been used to flavor ice creams, sodas, candies and other alcoholic concoctions in recent decades. Tracing its presence to a particular product today can be nearly impossible, however, as the U. Food and Drug Administration classifies castoreum as merely a natural flavor , an umbrella term that houses more than 3, different ingredients and chemical compounds. Instagram is littered with home distillers who proudly display their castor sac-infused alcohol, along with a few brands that sell their own take on the stuff.
Though it smells sweet and sounds sickly, castoreum has long been used for medicinal purposes as well. It can be purchased in some pharmacies for use as a sleep aid. Salicin-rich castoreum is converted by human bodies into salicylic acid, which behaves much in the same way that aspirin does, to provide relief from pain. Because artificial vanilla flavoring is so cheaply produced today, castoreum production has been driven off a cliff. Less than pounds of the secretion is reportedly collected by food manufacturers each year.
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