After Jamie Oliver, a British chef with a large following, appeared on the David Letterman Show last year and mentioned that vanilla ice cream was made with castoreum, the Vegetarian Resource Group(VRG) contacted 5 manufactures of vanilla flavoringto ask if there was any truth to this statement...
The answer is yes, there is a food additive calledcastoreumthat is derived from certain glands of the beaver and it can be used as a flavoring ingredient in foods. Although it is a flavoring ingredient, it is not a vanilla, raspberry, or strawberry flavoring, as is often reported. Instead...
8. We like their sticky bums too! A fun fact about castoreum is that even though it comes from a beaver's anal glands, it's used as a flavoring in some foods and drinks! Castoreum has a sweet, vanilla-like smell and taste, and is sometimes added to things like ice cream and sweets...