Interesting article about the Vanilla shortage in Chemical & Engineering News last month:
According to the article, less than 1 % of the vanilla sold around the world comes from the actual orchid:
“Vanilla is perhaps the world’s most popular flavor, but less than 1% of it comes from a fully natural source, the vanilla orchid. In 2015, a host of big food brands, led by Nestlé, vowed to use only natural flavors in products marketed in the U.S.—just as a shortage of natural vanilla was emerging. In the following pages, C&EN explains how flavor firms are working to supply natural alternatives that can help satisfy consumers’ cravings for vanilla. In an effort to shore up vanilla supplies, these same companies are working with orchid growers in Madagascar to ensure the future of sustainable, high-quality vanilla production.”
The article goes on to state that many of the sources of “natural” vanilla as permitted under labeling laws include Vanillin made from rice bran, clove oil, spruce tree lignan, corn sugar and from genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) in addition to the beans. (I’m not sure where the poor beavers fit into the “natural” spectrum.)
It’s a big challenge for food makers because there is so little real vanilla available, and there is a big push to go to all natural formulations.
It’s a real crap shoot. I’m looking at a bottle in my kitchen that has truffle shavings in it but also has artificial extracts added (per the label. I knew it wasn’t the real deal when I bought it but I still like some instead of none. You can’t easily buy the real deal where I live.
The label claims the shavings are real but I guess further enhancement is needed thus the artificial additive.
I’m not sure if control over food fraud is any better in Canada than the US but given the nightmare articles I have read from US sources about say, seafood, I would be surprised if there is a tiny shaving of truffle plus Cremini for volume.
I buy things I know aren’t real, for example, vanilla, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread.
What I don’t like is paying a premium price for a bottle of oil touting that it contains truffle shavings, then discovering most of those shavings are simply crimini. It’s not the flavor that bothers me, it’s paying a ton of money for a bottle of artificially flavored oil.
