MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

barbe1958

You stuff a HAM???

My comment was to try to help ladies NOT want to eat jelly beans. They're really just little balls of sugar...

Did y'all know that the artificial flavour of caramel comes from the anal glands of a beaver? Like, who and HOW did someone figure THAT out???????

barsco1963

The anal glands of a beaver?? Really?? I am going to have to shove that thought out of my head - I love caramel.

lovewins

Yuck!  I have always been leery of honey because it is bee spit and yogurt because it is live bacteria....and mushrooms because they are fungus!

How did you find that out Barbe...guess I will have to stick to the real stuff. 

marlegal

Honey and yogurt and mushrooms are all good for you too! I care not if their roots are a bit unsavory sounding

Pineapple stuffing - It's just a side dish, not actually stuffed anywhere. Just cubed bread, crushed pineapple, sugar, butter, eggs. Anyone who wants recipe, Send me a PM and I'll gladly share recipe. 

Barbe, I knew that was your intent...my "Why?" was my attempt at humor

NativeMainer

Beaver anal gland secretions in caramel?  Yuck!  And all this time I thought it was sugar and cream!  Or is it sugar and butter?

barbe1958

I'd take the spit out of the mouth of a bee rather than the caramel out of a beavers ass!!! 

lovewins

Barbe...LOL.

staynsane

I watched a 60 Minutes segment on "flavorings" about a year ago, I think.  It was truly amazing from where some flavorings originate!  I don't recall the caramel-beaver connection, or any of the other odd and disgusting ones, but many were discussed in the segment.  Yeah, makes you really want to read labels, although I don't think you'll find a beaver's anal gland reference on the ingredients list on that pack of caramels...probably just "natural flavorings."  What could be more natural than a beaver's ass?!

Eph3_12

From Snopes:

Another reason we may want to forgo artificial 'foods' ... Have you ever wondered where artificial raspberry, vanilla or strawberry flavor comes from? These are the dried perineal glands of the beaver. They contain castoreum — a food additive usually listed as 'natural flavoring' in the ingredient list. Castoreum is the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature North American Beaver, it is a yellowish secretion in combination with the beaver's urine, used during scent marking of territory. In the USA, castoreum as a food additive is considered by the FDA to be generally recognized as safe, often referenced simply as a "natural flavoring" in products' lists of ingredients.

 

Origins:   Castoreum (or castor, not to be confused with the oil of a castor bean) is a yellowish-brown, unctuous substance with a strong, penetrating odor which beavers secrete from castor sacs located in skin cavities between the pelvis and the base of the tail and spray when scent-marking their territory. (The location of the beaver's castor sacs means that castoreum also often includes a mixture of anal gland secretions and urine as well.) Due to the beaver's typical diet of leaves and bark, castoreum doesn't "stink" as other similar animal secretions do, but rather has a musky, vanilla scent described at the perfume site Fragrantica as a "sharp spreading tar-like note that reminds one of the odor of birch tar or Russian leather" that when diluted in alcohol picks up "more pleasant, musky and fruity nuances."

Because of its scent properties castoreum has long been employed in the perfume-making industry, and processed forms of castoreum have also been used as food additives, in the latter case primarily as enhancers of strawberry and raspberry flavorings found in products such as iced tea, ice cream, gelatin, candy, fruit-flavored drinks, and yogurt.

The average consumer likely isn't encountering much (if any) castoreum in common food products these days, however, in large part because collecting the substance is difficult:

Getting a beaver to produce castoreum for purposes of food processing is tough. Foodies bent on acquiring some of the sticky stuff have to anesthetize the animal and then "milk" its nether regions.

"You can milk the anal glands so you can extract the fluid," [Joanne] Crawford [a wildlife ecologist at Southern Illinois University] said. "You can squirt [castoreum] out. It's pretty gross."

Due to such unpleasantness for both parties, castoreum consumption is rather small.

According to Fernelli's Handbook of Flavor Ingredients, total annual consumption of castoreum, castoreum extract, and castoreum liquid combined is only about 292 pounds (132 kilograms), or about .000129 mg/kg/day per consumer.

In 2011, the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) queried five companies that produce vanilla flavorings about whether they used any castoreum in their products, and all five replied that they did not:

All five unanimously stated that castoreum is not used today in any form of vanilla sold for human food use.

One company, in business for ninety years, informed The VRG that they have never used castoreum in their products. "At one time," we were told by a senior level employee at this company, "to the best of my knowledge, it was used to make fragrance and still may be."

A major ingredients supplier told us this about some of their vanilla flavorings: "[Castoreum] is not a common raw material that is used and we don't use it, so I can safely say that our natural vanilla flavors do not contain any animal juices. All vanilla extracts are free of it, too, wherever you go."

Castoreum as a food additive is classified by the Food and Drug Administration as "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), and therefore food manufacturers don't always have to include castoreum in their ingredients lists and may instead refer to it as "natural flavoring." However yucky that may seem, according to a 2007 safety assessment published the International Journal of Toxicology, consumption of castoreum poses no health risk to humans:

Acute toxicity studies in animals indicate that castoreum extract is nontoxic by both oral and dermal routes of administration and is not irritating or phototoxic to skin. Skin sensitization has not been observed in human subject tests. A long historical use of castoreum extract as a flavoring and fragrance ingredient has resulted in no reports of human adverse reactions. On the basis of this information, low-level, long-term exposure to castoreum extract does not pose a health risk. The objective of this review is to evaluate the safety-in-use of castoreum extract as a food ingredient.

Last updated:   14 January 2014

Read more at http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/castoreum.asp#KEXReU2ocFoZB4jI.99

Come on page 1000!

elimar86861

Hear Ye, Hear Ye:  Henceforth, the women on this thread will be known for speaking of beavers' anal secretions as easily as they speak of breast cancer.  

Thread founder, elimar, quipped, "The thread has now truly entered into its Renaissance."  She added, "Let me just shove aside my vast collection of dubious honors to make room for this new one."

Tomboy

truly amazing! and extremely entertaining!

Eph3_12

DumdadaDum!!!!!!  You forgot that prior to the "Hear Ye's"

macatacmv

oh man, you should see what we're saying on another thread about constipation. We'll just talk about anything!

barbe1958

Strawberry, raspberry...you'll notice they don't mention caramel use!!! So here's for all you "natural" and "organic" gals!!!!

By Dr. Mercola

You probably know you’re better off avoiding artificial flavorings in your foods. But what about natural flavors? Aren’t they… natural?

Not necessarily. Both artificial and natural flavors can be made in laboratories, and natural flavors are not necessarily healthier than artificial ones. They may also be far from what you expect…

Now please understand this is not some type of massive food scandal. The use of this product is relatively uncommon but I thought it would serve as a good example of the many ingredients you have no idea are being used in your food. This is yet another example of how your food is perverted and manipulated -- especially when the word “natural” is used.

Vanilla-Flavored Processed Foods May Contain Anal Secretions from Beaver Butts…

Anal secretions from beavers, which beavers use to mark their territory, smell, ironically, like vanilla. These secretions, called castoreum, may be used as vanilla flavoring in baked goods, pudding, chewing gum and more.1

Here’s the rub … you certainly won’t see ‘beaver anal secretions’ on your food labels, and you probably won’t see ‘castoreum’ either. All that has to be listed is vanilla natural flavor, because, after all, beaver anal secretions are natural.

It’s clearly absurd that food manufacturers can describe secretions from beaver anal glands as natural vanilla flavor. This isn’t a huge health issue, especially because beavers are not a bred animal, and the total consumption of castoreum is thought to be around just 250 pounds a year.2

Still, there’s no denying it’s deceptive, as most people would not knowingly buy such a product, especially when vanilla flavor can be extracted from other sources, like coniferous trees and vanilla beans (imagine that!). In case you were wondering, there are actually quite a few foods that could, theoretically, contain castoreum, including:

Alcoholic beverages	Baked goods	Chewing gum
Frozen dairy	Puddings and gelatin	Gravies
Hard candy and soft candy	Meat products	Non-alcoholic beverages

Monis

Who knew that beavers were such multi purpose animals?

marlegal

I eat way more bread products than I should, but happy to say that we eat very little processed food at all in this house. Reading the last few pages ... I've never been happier about that fact! I get no credit for that - hub's Mom didn't believe in them so he grew up without them and I had no choice. 80 to 90% of the time we eat good food, we just eat too much of it!

Went with my cousin to a church service tonight. An annual thing for the two of us. We meet up with other family members there, cousins, 2nd cousins, one of my brothers...and it's such a wonderful service. One of those things where every single person in church is there because they want to be...not because they have to be. The singing is moving, the ceremonial parts are comforting and familiar, and I just feel good afterward. I truly look forward to this one service all year long. It never disappoints. Worth travelling away from my own church for this one once a year.

My very best wishes to you all for a Happy Easter, however you may celebrate. To our Jewish friends, I hope you had a Good Pesach.

Oh...let me put a couple pics in here to build our page count since I'm on the "regular" computer!!!

Monis

Since we've been on the topic of beavers:

kjfromca

Do you think that the beavers' anal secretions might help with my hair growth?  You ladies are a crack up.   I am 48 years old,  5 weeks post chemo, waiting for my hair to grow in, and going through rads.

Kim

Eph3_12

Kim-your avatar name has "fro" in it...is that your wish?  I know, I know, you are KJ from CA but the 1st thing I saw was the fro word & based on your post.....well.  I think that beaver anal secretions would certainly grow something, not sure about hair!!!!

Marlegal, so is that an annual Maundy Thursday service you attend?  Thanks for the Easter wishes.  Same to you!

I have the next 3 days off.  1st thing I'm doing is sleeping in (provided the animals allow it, which they probably won't BUT I'm not getting up at no sticking 5:30!!!!! Yippee!

Eph3_12

make that "stinking"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NativeMainer

Oh my, what a read over breakfast!  Hmm, we are supposed to eat more real food, less "food like substances", beaver anal secretions are as real as it gets, I guess I'll keep eating caramels and other foods with "natural vanilla flavors"!  And try not to think about where it came from! 

barbe1958

I try to eat food with only ONE ingredient; the actual food I bought. That makes it real easy to eat with knowledge of what you're consuming (we don't use antibiotics or growth hormones here in Canada to my knowledge). I don't need ketchup or sauces to enjoy meat, for instance. But of course, I do enjoy to pig out every once in a while....

Eph3_12

Made it 8:30-so decadent!

Momine

Gah, the pink beaver reminded me of hitch-hiking with my boyfriend back in the day from Ohio to Toronto. A truck driver took us a good stretch then got on the CB to find us a ride to Toronto. Here is what he said to the other truckers:

"Yeah, I got a beaver with a cleaver here, wanting a ride to Toronto."

Eph3_12

OH MY GOODNESS Momine!  That made me ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

linda505

Well I came in to introduce myself as I fit the category - decided to read the last two pages to see what the general gist of the thread was and lets just say  EWWWWWW  LOL

elimar86861

What the current subject says about us Middies, I don't know.  All I can say is, this recent topic has prompted three Newbies to jump in.  What that says about them, I don't know either!

Welcome new sister-lady-girls!  When no one here is in the midst of waiting anxiety or treatment angst or needing our vast knowledge about BC, we take the liberty to go off on unusual tangents.  Only one subject is off limits and that is The Weather, as per my request.

You might think that when the topic turned to the anal glands of beavers, I would relent and reconsider weather chat.  No, never!

barsco1963

Momine - gotta love the trucker's lingo. "beaver with a cleaver" LOL

Welcome newbies. Ya we have some strange goings on here at times. But this is an amazing group of middies that are here for everyone all of the time no matter what the circumstance.

Eli - I must agree that the recent topic of beavers and their contribution to our culinary treats is far more interesting than the weather. I can say with certainty that I continue to learn from the vast knowledge of all of the women here.

ndgrrl

WOW- all this Beaver talk makes me want to watch Leave it to Beaver and not eat Caramel again!! WOW- who thinks to try to that stuff?

I had GREAT NEWS!! My genetic tests I had done were negative!!! So I do not have an increased risk of lobular, colan and stomach cancer!!  It was a wonderful present for today as I have been waiting not so patiently since December to get this done!!

elimar86861

ndgrrl,  What is the name of that genetic test?