Castoreum

Chemical composition

At least 24 compounds are known constituents of beaver castoreum. Several of these have pheromonal activity, of which the phenols 4-ethylphenol and catechol and the ketones acetophenone and 3-hydroxyacetophenone are strongest. Five additional compounds elicit a weaker response: 4-methylcatechol, 4-methoxyacetophenone, 5-methoxysalicylic acid, salicylaldehyde, and 3-hydroxybenzoic acid. There are also oxygen-containing monoterpenes such as 6-methyl-1-heptanol, 4,6-dimethyl-1-heptanol, isopinocamphone, pinocamphone, and two linalool oxides and their acetates. Other compounds are: benzoic acid, benzyl alcohol, borneol, o-cresol, 4-(4'-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butanone, hydroquinone, and phenol. All those compounds are gathered from plant food. It also contains nupharamine alkaloids, castoramine, and cis-cyclohexane-1,2-diol.

Uses

In perfume

In perfumery, the term castoreum refers to 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.

Castoreum is largely used for its note suggesting leather, typically compounded with other ingredients, including top, middle, and base notes. Some classic perfumes incorporating castoreum are Emeraude, Chanel Antaeus, Cuir de Russie, Magie Noire, Lancôme Caractère, Hechter Madame, Givenchy III, Shalimar, and many "leather" themed compositions.

In food

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. Historically, compounds isolated from castoreum were used in strawberry and raspberry flavorings and vanilla substitutes, but at present, the annual industry consumption is very low, around 220 lb, whereas vanillin is over 2.6 e6lb annually.

Castoreum has been traditionally used in Sweden for flavoring a variety of schnapps commonly referred to as Bäverhojt ().

Other

Castoreum was also considered as an ingredient for the flavor and odor of cigarettes. United States Patent Application US20140123991A1 "Examples of the hydrophobic flavorant include ... castoreum"

Medieval beekeepers used castoreum to increase honey production.

Related animal products

• Taxea, a secretion of the badger's subcaudal glands comparable in its medicinal use to the better-known castoreum
• Hyraceum, the petrified and rock-like excrement composed of urine and feces excreted by the Cape hyrax (Procavia capensis), and a sought-after material that has been used in traditional South African medicine and perfumery

References

References

1. Walro, J.M. and Svendsen, G.E., "[https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00994781 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. Müller-Schwarze, Dietland (1992). "[https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-4757-9655-1_70 Castoreum of beaver (Castor canadensis): function, chemistry and biological activity of its components]". ''Chemical Signals in Vertebrates IV'', 457–464, Plenum Press.
3. Johnston, Robert E.; Sorenson, Peter W.; and Müller-Schwarze, Dietland (1999). ''[https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4615-4733-4 Advances in Chemical Signals in Vertebrates]'', Springer, 1, 282. {{ISBN. 0-306-46114-5.
4. 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. 144–149, University of Notre Dame. {{JSTOR. 2425894.
5. (2023-11-15). "Does your vanilla ice cream have beaver goo in it?".
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7. Burdock, G. A.. (2007-01-01). "Safety assessment of castoreum extract as a food ingredient". International Journal of Toxicology.
8. Pheromonal activity of single castoreum constituents in beaver, Castor canadensis., Müller-Schwarze, D and Houlihan, P.W., ''Journal of Chemical Ecology'', April 1991, Volume 17, Number 4, Springer Netherlands, {{doi. 10.1007/BF00994195
9. Neutral compounds from male castoreum of North American beaver, ''Castor canadensis''. Rong Tang, Francis X. Webster, Dietland Müller-Schwarze, ''Journal of Chemical Ecology'', November 1995, Volume 21, Issue 11, pages 1745–1762, {{doi. 10.1007/BF02033674
10. Stereoselective synthesis of enantiomerically pure nupharamine alkaloids from castoreum. Stoye A, Quandt G, Brunnhöfer 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
11. Zur Kenntnis der stickstoffhaltigen Inhaltsstoffe von Castoreum. B. Maurer and G. Ohloff, ''Helvetica Chimica Acta'', 2 June 1976, Volume 59, Issue 4, pages 1169–1185, {{doi. 10.1002/hlca.19760590420
12. ''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
13. Hyraceum.com, "Castoreum, Perfumer's Ancient Intrigue," http://www.hyraceum.com {{webarchive. link. (February 7, 2013)
14. Burdock GA. (2007). "Safety assessment of castore um extract as a food ingredient". International Journal of Toxicology.
15. [http://www.femaflavor.org/sites/default/files/3.%20GRAS%20Substances%282001-3124%29.pdf Recent Progress In the Consideration Under of Flavoring Ingredients the Food Additives Amendment (1965)]
16. Doucleff, Michaeleen. (2014-03-26). "Does Beaver Tush Flavor Your Strawberry Shortcake? We Go Myth Busting".
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21. ''The Beaver: Its Life and Impact''. Dietland Muller-Schwarze, 2003, page 43 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=HZ5WjXB5Pr8C&dq=Castoreum+beekeeping&pg=PA43 book at Google Books])