Upon one of my raids to the local Chinese supermarket I got a tiny package of tubes full of white powder with a horse logo. The only words in English were 'HORSE trade mark' and 'Vanillin'. The rest I recognized to be Vietnamese words. So I thought, ok, like vanilla sugar tubes for desserts, or something.
If you have ever done any outdoor survival training, you'll possibly know about doing something called the edibility test. You start by visually inspecting and smelling a plant to deem if it seems edible. If that's cool, then you rub a sample of a plant on your wrist or under your armpit. If there's no rash or reaction you progress through touching the plant to the corner of your mouth, lips, tip of tongue, under tongue, and so forth. You give at least a good 15 seconds for each step. Finally, you ingest a tiny portion on an empty stomach and wait several hours. If there is any burning, bitterness, or any other number of unpleasant sensations at any of these stages you must DISCARD the plant and assume it is potentially dangerous.
Imagine my surprise when I thought I'd be tasting vanilla flavored sugar and my tongue burned and recoiled from a strong bitterness! I was like, whoa, maybe I should look this stuff up so I don't use it the wrong way. Of course, if it could be so dangerous, why would it openly be sold in markets like that and FDA approved and such? The internet is a strange place to get knowledge, but sometimes it may give you more concurrent info than some dusty old Encyclopedia Britannica. First, what IS vanillin? It is NOT vanilla sugar even though it looks like it. Natural vanilla beans have hundreds of chemical compounds in them. The one chiefly responsible for the flavor is, you guessed it- vanillin. It can be isolated artificially or naturally, though the end result is more or less the same.
So in simplest terms it is vanilla flavoring. In complex terms for you chemists it is 4-Hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde. Other web info on it is conflicting. On one hand vanillin is supposed to be an irritant (respiratory, skin and digestive wise) dangerous to ingest, and can make people aggressive or give them migraines. If you get any in your mouth you are supposed to rinse it out (that's sure as hell what I did when the burning and bitter taste got me). If heated too much (we're talking hundreds of degrees) chemical changes ensue to make it turn to something like formaldehyde.
On another hand, some people say it's a safe flavoring to add to desserts, drinks, whatever.
They add that lethal amounts to ingest are huge, so as long as you don't pour a pure giant bowl of it and eat it with a spoon you should be good. Further, it is said to be surprisingly anti-carcinogenic (that means it fights cancer if you don't know), and it helps liver problems and enhances libido and so forth. So what the hell am I to believe? One thing's for sure, this shit mildly creeps me out and I think it has powers or benefits to be unlocked that medical research has not scratched deep enough. I shall continue to do my own research on it.
I did a ghetto-ass online translation from Vietnamese to English, and I may say it's quite entertaining, especially the 'manic effect upon horses' part. If it appears non grammatical or weird, remember it was all done SIC.
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Translation from package:
aromatic vanillin powder
special
delicious
KLT: 10 tubes
25 mg + -10%
manic effect upon horses
bakery, confectionery. tea brown, pink, etc. ..
Vanilla fragrant powder upon manic performance horses
quality assurance delicious
Manufacturing firms manic agree more products Vani Degree Advanced System Equipment, Machine Packaging Automated Processing etc. ..
Advantages: Do Types Confectionary Sweets, Cooking Tea, Steamed sticky rice, syrup, cream, etc. .. Light Sa
Please preserve the product in cool dry place. The expiry date indicated on the security box
DCSX: 22 Van Than P.8-District 6 City - Tel: 8540854
Certificate KD: 1619 - C / HKD 12-12-00
Mark has been protected by the State Number: 1037
Standard office number: 01/2006
Statement Number: 4180/2006/YT-CNTC
Pure vanilla 96%, 98%
