Castoreum has a sweet, and sometimes musky, scent due to the beavers' diet, which consists mainly of bark and leaves — hence why there's a history of using it in perfumes.

Now, castoreum isn’t really used in anything at all as it’s extremely expensive and inconvenient to extract from the animal.

Castoreum, a substance from sacs near a beaver’s anus, has been used in human products for more than 2,000 years. Some wonder if it's still an ingredient on today's grocery shelves.

Castoreum, which comes from beaver anal glands, can be used as vanilla flavoring. But it’s expensive and artificial vanillin is far cheaper for imitation vanilla. Skip Navigation.

Castoreum isn’t kosher, and that label is a very important one for food production if brands want rabbinic approval of their products. Advertisement. Reaction videos.

Castoreum, which comes from beaver anal glands, can be used as vanilla flavoring. But it’s expensive and artificial vanillin is far cheaper for imitation vanilla. Skip Navigation.

Castoreum, which comes from beaver anal glands, can be used as vanilla flavoring. But it’s expensive and artificial vanillin is far cheaper for imitation vanilla. Skip Navigation.

Castoreum, which comes from beaver anal glands, can be used as vanilla flavoring. But it’s expensive and artificial vanillin is far cheaper for imitation vanilla. Skip Navigation.

Castoreum, which comes from beaver anal glands, can be used as vanilla flavoring. But it’s expensive and artificial vanillin is far cheaper for imitation vanilla. Skip Navigation.

Castoreum, which comes from beaver anal glands, can be used as vanilla flavoring. But it’s expensive and artificial vanillin is far cheaper for imitation vanilla. Skip Navigation.

Castoreum, which comes from beaver anal glands, can be used as vanilla flavoring. But it’s expensive and artificial vanillin is far cheaper for imitation vanilla. Skip Navigation.