You find it in your favorite flavor of ice cream, you find it in cakes, in air fresheners, in baby formula, coffee, donuts, perfurme, sodas and more. It’s ubiquitous, it’s the most popular flavoring since it was first mass produced over two centuries ago, and it’s name is synonymous with delicious, comforting feelings from our childhood. So popular we can’t conceive of a world without it, we can’t be surprised that it’s been artificially manufactured for close to a century. That most vanilla is actually ‘vanillin’, and is produced in chemical plants that have nothing to do with vanilla beans. What does this mean for our health, for what we taste, and what exactly are we eating?
The original vanilla bean is the second most difficult and expensive spice to produce after saffron. Grown primarily in Madagascar and Indonesia, it is in fact not a bean but the product of the sole orchid that bears fruits. These orchids are hand pollinated during the one day of the year they open, and their fruits are collected and then tended to by hand so that they dry out over the course of three to six months. The whole process can take five to six years from planting to sale. Natural vanilla costs hundreds of dollars/pound, and oscillate dramatically depending on weather and political conditions in the countries they are grown. Only about 2,000 tons are produced annually across the world. Luckily, only 13.35 ounces of vanilla beans are needed/gallon of alcohol and water. Still, it’s impossibly expensive and rare.
Which is where 4 hydroxy 3 methoxybenzaldehyde comes in. Known as ‘vanillin’, it’s made in two major petrochemical plants in China and one in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Originally synthesized in 1875 from coniferin, which is derived from pine cones, then from clove oil, it was finally extracted from the lignin contained in wood pulp. Today, however, about 5 10 of vanillin comes from wood pulp. The rest is made chemically.
The process is byzantine, strange and disturbing all. If you could penetrate the maximum security systems surrounding one of these three petrochemical plants, you’d be able to watch benzyne gas being extracted from crude oil, natural gas and tar. That is in turn oxidized with propylene into cumene, which is then reduced to phenol. Got it? Phenol is then condensed into catechol, which is liquefied into guaiacol, which is then dried off into white crystals which are then further processed into vanillin.
The problem is that both artificial and natural vanilla flavoring is a delicate thing. Some people think of vanilla as ‘bland’, and so this begs the question: how do you subdue the other natural flavors of whatever you’re flavoring in order to allow the vanilla flavor to burst through, uncontaminated? The answer involves more chemistry. Involves neutralizing strong flavors so that the product is rendered neutral, and then the vanilla (read: vanillin) is added, and suddenly whatever it is you’re eating/smelling/drinking smells like this delicate produce of an orchid flower. Healthy? Not so much. Which is why you should always check the ingredient list of whatever it is you’re about to consume. If the back reads like the shopping list of a mad scientist, you’re probably better off not eating it, even if it does taste like the most delicate of vanilla’s (vanillin’s) ever.
Author Resource:
If you want the most natural, wholesome supplement possible, get into http://www.getmovingcatalog.com/shakeology.html Shakeology. Derived from natural whole foods, with no gluten, artificial sweeteners and tons of nutritional punch, it's the best. Also, get psyched! Free information on the awesome http://www.getmovingcatalog.com/turbo-fire.html Turbo Fire workout here!
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlecoop.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
