# Beaver Butt for Baking



## SeaBreeze (Sep 22, 2013)

[h=1]Beaver butt secretion good for baking confirms the Swedish National Food Agency[/h]Information that beaver bottoms can be a source of vanilla aroma, in the form of Castoreum, have been circulating on the internet recently and the agency has now confirmed that there is substance to the secretions.

“Natural aromas can be extracts from plants, fungi, and in some cases animals. The labelling provisions do not require that the kind of flavour is indicated, with the exception of coffee and quinine,” Ulla Beckman Sundh at the Swedish National Food Agency said.

Vanilla flavour, it has been established, is not only derived from the vanilla bean. It can also come from conifer trees, or indeed from the anal passage of a beaver.

Beckman Sundh however questioned whether the beaver is likely to become a common a source of flavouring for baked goods, sweets, soft drinks and other items.
“As far as I know the beaver is not an animal which is bred, so supply is not that great,” she said.

The beaver population was wiped out in Sweden in the 19th century due to the popularity of castoreum which was then used in natural medicines. Following the import of animals from Norway in the 1920s, the population has grown to around 100,000.

From: http://www.thelocal.se/50250/20130915/


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## Anne (Sep 22, 2013)

What I' wonder is who ever even *considered *this for a flavoring, and who would have known what it tasted like??!!  Don't wanna know............... :grey::eeew:


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## nan (Sep 22, 2013)

Poor Beavers, it seems that there are no animals that humans wont use, for their own use to make money from.


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## Diwundrin (Sep 22, 2013)

I worked with a Swedish woman who did part-time catering work for fellow Swede's parties.  She brought in a sampling to work for us to try.  So no, I'm in no way surprised that they would would fancy Beaver butt 'extract'.  
I guess Scandanvian delicacies are an acquired taste.  You have no idea how hard it was for us not to hurt her feelings over that stuff.


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## rkunsaw (Sep 23, 2013)

We've gone over this before. Beaver anal glands are an ingredient in most commercial ice cream and many other foods in this country .Our government doesn't require companies to list it as an ingredient, they just refer to it as "natural" flavor.


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