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On 24 Apr 2005 11:40:52 -0400
(Scott Dorsey) wrote:
> Diane L. Schirf > wrote:
> >
> >Now THIS is masochism. No sugar, no fat, and fake vanilla. It's rich!
>
> Fake vanilla is _perfectly_ natural. It's a byproduct of particle board
> manufacture. It comes from wood, which is natural.
That's not precisely true. The *precursors for it are a product of
particle board manufacture. But fake vanilla is synthesized vanillin, and
vanillin is about 80% of what you taste in natural vanilla. 'fake vanilla'
is synthetic vanillin, manufactured through organic synthesis.
'course, there's nothing unnatural about organic synthesis. laws of
physics & all.
Vanillin was one of the earliest synthesized chemicals, and it's so easy
to make that nearly any organic chemistry class in college will produce
some as an assignment.
The problem with it is twofold.
1: It's only 80% of what you taste in real vanilla, the more subtle
notes are lost. I suspect that many of the factories using it use too much
of it.
2: It's very very cheap. It literally costs about $100/ton if you
purchase it dry at the factory. This means that there's no incentive in the
job. I'm convinced they're sloppy with it, and there are defects in the
synthesis.
For some reason I have a sensitivity to *most fake vanilla, but not to
real vanilla, and not to high quality fake vanilla. For example,
professional bakers use a crystal clear fake vanilla to flavor that
inedible fluffy white crisco-based frosting, and I'm not at all sensitive
to that. Probably because that stuff costs more than the real thing.
Hershey for example uses low grade fake stuff in M&M's, but not always
in the chocolate bars. Go figure.
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