Food Science Fusion

What is fiber and why are we supposed to eat it!? Do you have no idea what probiotics are? I’m a…

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You love the flavor of beaver anal glands

Abbey
Food Science Fusion
3 min readDec 27, 2021

You’ve probably never heard of it, but there’s a yearly trivia competition for collegiate food science students. It’s kind of like sports, but for nerds.

And as a nerd, I was part of this trivia team for many, many years throughout my bachelor’s and PhD program.

Why do I bring this up today?

Because I still remember one particular question a good friend of mine buzzed into answer, “What’s the source of castoreum, a more economical alternative to vanilla extract?”

To which my friend meekly replied into a microphone “umm beaver anal glands!?”

I was petrified. My teammate had just said the words anal glands to the judges. Had she lost her mind?

To my surprise, and delight, she was correct. Four points added to our score!

What is castoreum?

If you want the scientific answer, castoreum is the secretion from beaver anal glands and castor sacs. However, I prefer to think of it simply as beaver butt juice. It’s what the animal uses to mark…

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Food Science Fusion
Food Science Fusion

Published in Food Science Fusion

What is fiber and why are we supposed to eat it!? Do you have no idea what probiotics are? I’m a trained food scientist hoping to help everyone understand what’s in their food and why, because once we are educated we no longer have to live in fear of what we eat.

Abbey
Abbey

Written by Abbey

I’m a food scientist by PhD, a science writer, and a YouTuber. I’m fascinated by food science and enjoy writing and sharing what I’ve learn.

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