Unlike you lakhs of people across the globe are eating “beaver butt” and don’t even know that they’re consuming such a substance.
It’s called “castoreum”, a tasty additive made from the secretions of glands near the anus of beavers. They use it to mark their territory and attract a mate: we use it as a sweet vanilla, strawberry and raspberry flavouring in sweets according to a report published in mirror.uk.
Why is castoreum used?
Instead of smelling horrible, like most people would expect from an anally produced secretion, it has a pleasant scent, which supposedly makes it a perfect candidate for food flavoring and other products.
The shocking part is FDA approved it as natural flavoring.