Dried castoreum on display in a museum. | H. Zell, Wikimedia // CC BY-SA 3.0 For much of its history, castoreum was used as a medicine. Roman women inhaled the fumes of castoreum burned in lamps ...

Castoreum is the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature North American Beaver, it is a yellowish secretion in combination with the beaver's urine, used during scent marking of territory.

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.

If you have heard about the beaver anal gland and the story that follows it, then you must be wondering about the 5 brands that use castoreum in perfumes.In case you haven’t, let us explain ...

The companies told VRG that castoreum is not used today in any form of vanilla sold for human consumption, with one company stating: “[Castoreum] is not a common raw material that is used, and ...

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.

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 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 ...

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

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.