Castoreum is an anal secretion beavers use to mark their territories.

It also happens
to smell like vanilla. More specifically, the raw form is often described as "birch tar
or Russian leather." But when diluted in alcohol (not the kind you drink), the
substance picks up "more pleasant, musky and fruity nuances," according to
Fragantica. It's been used in both food and perfumes for years, according to
National Geographic's Mollie Bloudoff-Indelicato, who dug up a paper from 2007 in
the International Journal of Toxicology. Castoreum comes from the beaver's castor
sac, located between the pelvis and base of the tail. Because of its close proximity
to the anal glands, the substance often contains anal secretions and urine. The
compound is non-toxic. The gland's butt-proximity doesn't stop Joanne Crawford, a
wildlife ecologist at Southern Illinois University, from encouraging people to stick
their noses under the animal's tail and take a whiff. "People think Im nuts," she told
Nat Geo. "I tell them, 'Oh, but it's beavers; it smells really good. 'The secretions
contain about 24 different molecules, some of which act as beaver pheromones.The
U.S. Food and Drug Administration calls the beaver's goo a "generally safe" additive
for food. For the past 80 years, food scientists have added it to products, often
labeled only as "natural flavoring." Fernelli's Handbook Of Flavor Ingredients puts
individual annual consumption of castoreum extract at only .000081 mg/kg/day, in
products like frozen dairy, gelatins, puddings, and nonalcoholic beverages.

In 2011, the Vegetarian Resource Group wrote to five major companies that produce
vanilla flavoring. The organization asked if these companies used castoreum. The
answer: According to the Federal Code of Regulations, they can't. That's because
the FDA highly regulates what goes into vanilla flavoring and extracts. Castoreum
extract can be used to enhance raspberry or strawberry flavorings, though. It has
also been used as traditional medicine for centuries. The beaver population in
Sweden was almost wiped out in the 19th century because of castoreum's
popularity, according to Sweden's English newspaper, The Local. You won't likely
find castoreum in mass-marketed goods though. It's difficult and expensive to "milk"
a beaver to get the fresh secretions. Dried castoreum sacs, harvested from dead
beavers, are available for private use at Agro Laboratories. And if you ever go
beaver hunting ... they "can easily be removed with the help of a knife and your
fingers [PDF]."A trapper in Northern Ontario says these beauties can sell for $40 to
$60 each.

Castoreum /kstrim/ is the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature North
American beaver (Castor canadensis) and the European beaver (Castor fiber).
Castoreum is the yellowish secretion of the castor sac. Beavers use castoreum in
combination with urine to scent mark territory. Both beaver sexes have a pair of
castor sacs and a pair of anal glands, located in two cavities under the skin between
the pelvis and the base of the tail. The castor sacs are not true glands (endocrine or
exocrine) on a cellular level, hence references to these structures as preputial
glands or castor glands are misnomers. Castor sacs are a type of scent gland.
Uses
It is used as a tincture in some perfumes and as a food additive. American Beavers
at the U.S. National ZooIn perfume-making, the term castoreum is more liberally
applied to denote the resinoid extract resulting from the dried and alcohol tinctured
beaver castor. The dried beaver castor sacs are generally aged for two or more
years to mellow and for their raw harshness to dissipate.In perfumery, castoreum
has largely been used as an animalic note suggesting leather, compounded with
other ingredients including top, middle, and base notes as a composition. Some
classic perfumes incorporating castor are Emeraude, Chanel Antaeus, Cuir de
Russie, Magie Noire, Lancme Caractre, Hechter Madame, Givenchy III, Shalimar,
and many "leather" themed compositions.

MEDICINAL USE

Castoreum

No pharmaceutical authorities in the Western world recommend castoreum for any

medical condition. It was still in the materia medica[Any other examples than
Boericke's book?] in the 18th century as a treatment for many ailments, including
headache, fever, and hysteria. The Romans believed the fumes produced by burning
castoreum could induce an abortion. Paracelsus thought it could be used in the
treatment of epilepsy.not in citation given] Castoreum was also used as an
analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic. Castoreum was described in the 1911
British Pharmaceutical Codex for use in dysmenorrhea and hysterical conditions
(i.e., pertaining to the womb), for raising blood pressure and increasing cardiac
output. The activity of castoreum has been credited to the accumulation of salicin
from willow trees in the beaver's diet, which is transformed to salicylic acid and has
an action very similar to aspirin.It is one of the 65 ingredients of mithridate, a semi-
mythical remedy used as an antidote for poisoning. It is also an ingredient of
theriac, a medical concoction originally formulated by the Greeks in the 1st century
AD as an alexipharmic, or antidote, considered a universal panacea

FOOD USE

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration lists castoreum extract as a
generally recognized as safe (GRAS) food additive. In 1965, the Flavor and Extract
Manufacturers Association's GRAS program (FEMA 2261 and 2262) added castoreum
extract and castoreum liquid. Product ingredient lists often refer to it simply as a
"natural flavoring." While it is mainly used in foods and beverages as part of a
substitute vanilla flavor, it is less commonly used as a part of a raspberry or
strawberry flavoring. The annual industry consumption is very low, around 300
pounds,whereas vanillin is over 2.6 million pounds annually.
Castoreum has been traditionally used in Sweden for flavoring schnapps commonly
referred to as "Bverhojt" (literally, beaver shout).

Insufficient Evidence to Rate Effectiveness for...

Menstrual problems.

Anxiety.

Sleeping disorders.

Other conditions.

The complete list of uses and indications for Castoreum is as follows:

Hysteria

Prostration

Castoreum is derived from a gel secreted from the anus of a beaver. In the animal
kingdom, beavers use this goo as a reference to other animals. The message is
how beavers essentially marks their territory. The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) classifies castoreum as a generally regarded as safe (GRAS)
additive. Modern food and perfume manufacturers have been using it for almost
one hundred years.

Though not currently used in any form of western medicine, castoreum has been
used for centuries to treat the symptoms of many illnesses. Some Ancient Romans
believed that by simply inhaling the fumes giving off by castoreum, abortion could
be induced. Fourteenth-century Swiss occultist Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus
Bombastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus), believed it could be used to treat seizure
disorders, like epilepsy. In the 21st century, through the methods associated with
eastern medicines, many people use castoreum to treat pain, anxiety and sleep
disorders. There has been no evidence that indicates any negative side effects or
contradictions with medications.

As odd as it may sound, the anal secretions of these beavers are used in some
foods, for flavoring purposes. Castoreum is prepared into a powder form and added
for use as natural flavoring, which is better known as vanilla flavoring. It is
sometimes used in the same manner with strawberry, as well as raspberry
flavorings. There is no evidence that ingestion of castoreum through food products
has any adverse effects to humans.

Castoreum is also used as a method to induce desirable pheromone responses in

the brain. For anyone that has cleaned the inside of their car and used the New
Car air freshener, the fragrance you were smelling was likely that of a castoreum
extract. The alcohol-dried castoreum sacs give off a fragrance described by people
as resembling that of fresh leather. Due to its ability to trigger pheromone
reactions, designers use it in the production of perfumes and colognes. Castoreum
is also a common fragrant additive in some body soap and fragrant products made
for use on the human body. There has been no evidence that topical application of
castoreum products causes any harm to the body.

Commonly found in

frozen dairy

gelatins, puddings

hard candy

perfumes, colognes

BENEFITS

tasty food flavoring

treat epilepsy (eastern medicine)

relieve pain (eastern medicine)

relieve anxiety (eastern medicine)

treat sleep disorders (eastern medicine)

REFERENCES

1.Jump up ^ Walro, J.M. and Svendsen, G.E., "Castor sacs and anal glands of the
north american beaver (Castor canadensis): their histology, development, and
relationship to scent communication" Journal of Chemical Ecology, Volume 8,
Number 5 / May 1982, Department of Zoology and Microbiology, Ohio University,

2.Jump up ^ Mller-Schwarze, Dietland (1992). "Castoreum of beaver (Castor

canadensis): function, chemistry and biological activity of its components,"
Chemical Signals in Vertebrates IV, 457464, Plenum Press.

3.Jump up ^ Johnston, Robert E.; Sorenson, Peter W.; and Mller-Schwarze, Dietland
(1999). Advances in Chemical Signals in Vertebrates, Springer, 1, 282. ISBN 0-306-
46114-5.
4.Jump up ^ Svendsen, G.E., Huntsman, W.D, "A field Assay of Beaver Castoreum
and Some of its Components," American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 120, No. 1 (Jul.,
1988), pp. 144149, University of Notre Dame.

5.^ Jump up to: a b International Perfume Museum, Grasse France, Website:

http://www.museesdegrasse.com/MIP/fla_ang/mat_prem_10.shtml

6.Jump up ^ Burdock, G. A. (2007-01-01). "Safety assessment of castoreum extract

as a food ingredient". International Journal of Toxicology. 26 (1): 5155.
doi:10.1080/10915810601120145. ISSN 1091-5818. PMID 17365147.

7.Jump up ^ "May-June 2016 Wild Fur Sales Report North American Fur Auction"
(PDF). Retrieved 21 February 2016 via Fur Institute of Canada.

8.Jump up ^ Hyraceum.com, "Castoreum, Perfumer's Ancient Intrigue,"

http://www.hyraceum.com Archived February 7, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.

9.Jump up ^ Boericke, Materia Medica.

10.Jump up ^ Compare mummy

11.Jump up ^ Stephen Pincock (28 March 2005). "The quest for pain relief: how
much have we improved on the past?". Retrieved 2007-06-17.

12.Jump up ^ Burdock GA (2007). "Safety assessment of castoreum extract as a

food ingredient". Int. J. Toxicol. 26 (1): 515. doi:10.1080/10915810601120145.
PMID 17365147.

13.Jump up ^ http://www.femaflavor.org/sites/default/files/3.%20GRAS
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14.Jump up ^ Burdock, George A., Fenaroli's handbook of flavor ingredients. CRC

Press, 2005. p. 277.

15.Jump up ^ Furia, Thomas E., Chemical Rubber Company, CRC Handbook of Food
Additives, Volume 2. CRC Press, 1972. p. 253.

16.Jump up ^ Burdock, George A., Fenaroli's handbook of flavor ingredients. CRC

Press, 2005. p. 276-8.

17.Jump up ^ Burdock, George A., Fenaroli's handbook of flavor ingredients. CRC

Press, 2005. p. 639.

18.Jump up ^ Baron Ambrosia (26 February 2015). "Tales from the Fringe: Beaver
Gland Vodka". PunchDrink.com. Retrieved 11 December 2015.

19.Jump up ^ BVR HJT

20.Jump up ^ "What's Inside: For a Refreshing Hint of Tear Gas, Light Up a
Cigarette"

21.^ Jump up to: a b The Beaver: Its Life and Impact. Dietland Muller-Schwarze,
2003, page 43 (book at Google Books)

22.Jump up ^ Pheromonal activity of single castoreum constituents in beaver,Castor

canadensis., Mller-Schwarze, D and Houlihan, P.W., Journal of Chemical Ecology,
April 1991, Volume 17, Number 4, Springer Netherlands, doi:10.1007/BF00994195

23.Jump up ^ Neutral compounds from male castoreum of North American beaver,

Castor canadensis. Rong Tang, Francis X. Webster, Dietland Mller-Schwarze, Journal
of Chemical Ecology, November 1995, Volume 21, Issue 11, pages 1745-1762,
doi:10.1007/BF02033674

24.Jump up ^ Stereoselective synthesis of enantiomerically pure nupharamine

alkaloids from castoreum. Stoye A, Quandt G, Brunnhfer B, Kapatsina E, Baron J,
Fischer A, Weymann M and Kunz H, Angew Chem Int Ed Engl., 2009, volume 48,
issue 12, pages 2228-2230, doi:10.1002/anie.200805606

25.Jump up ^ Zur Kenntnis der stickstoffhaltigen Inhaltsstoffe von Castoreum. B.

Maurer and G. Ohloff, Helvetica Chimica Acta, 2 June 1976, Volume 59, Issue 4,
pages 11691185, doi:10.1002/hlca.19760590420

26.Jump up ^ cis-cyclohexane-1,2-diol in the beaver gland. Z. Valenta, A. Khaleque,

M. H. Rashid, Experientia, 1961, Volume 17, Issue 3, page 130,
doi:10.1007/BF02160827