This [Edit: ~~factoid~~] becomes even more interesting when you learn that artificial vanilla aroma is made from wood.
this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2025
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According to Wikipedia only around 15% of artificial vanilla flavour is made from wood. The other 85%? You've guessed it - oil.
From what I can find it sounds like plant oils, not petroleum, for anyone else that was confused.
Isn’t petroleum technically a plant oil?
It was plant oil, being fermented anaerobically and heated for millions of years chemically changes it.
Have we tried speed running oil creation like we did with diamonds?
Yes, we have even made bacteria that excretes fuels. But nothing that competes with just pulling hydrocarbons out of the ground at scale like we have with diamonds.
The main scaling issue is that the constituent carbon still has to come from somewhere, and one of the main carbon sources we have is... oil.
The best solution is to move away from carbon based fuels.
As atomicbocks points out, a major obstacle for sustainable fuels for combustion engines is that there isn't enough biomass around. Also why the new sustainable ship engines run on ammonia.
It was not plant oil. Plankton and algae aren't plants.
No
Today, approximately 15% of the world's production of vanillin is still made from lignin wastes,[11] while approximately 85% is synthesized in a two-step process from the petrochemical precursors guaiacol and glyoxylic acid.[12][13]
It's not a factoid, it's an actual fact.
Turns out I mistook what “factoid” means. Thanks for correcting me.
Words mean what people use them to mean. That is what factoid means.
As Hakase said, words mean what they are used to mean, so in this case it is either a tidbit of true information or a false, but truth-resembling fact.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid
For further explanation, the suffix “oid” is Latin (borrowed from Greek) for “in the form of” or “in the likeness of,” as in android (man-like) or asteroid (star-like), but it can also mean “pertaining to” as in myeloid cells- cells that come from bone marrow: muelos (marrow) + oid (relating to).
So, uh, unrelated... Any cute beaver anthros want they ass ate?
I'm saving mine for if I ever find the right person, personally. I ain't giving my vanilla to just anyone.
I thought this was strawberry flavoring. huh.
I had the same recollection. Turns out it's common-ish.
https://www.chefsresource.com/truth-about-raspberry-or-strawberry-flavor-from-beaver-glands/
I've heard almond flavoring before. But yeah, strange seeing it on the science meme page because it's not true
I take personal offence to this. Rum and raisin icecream is great!
I wil never understand the raisin haters.
As long as it's actually rum. The fake stuff is a crime against humanity.
Off to smell the back of a beaver now.
Somebody in here has eaten beaver cream.
Would
I actually really like rum raisin, though
Seems similar to Australia's love for musk sticks! Thankfully I don't think actual musk has been used for a long time!
phew not ai, so that means i thought it was ai so ai stole from the original artist.
I thought they smelled fishy ...