What is raspberry flavor made of

About the same time, Otter Pops —those tubes of frozen sugar water—introduced a new character and flavor, Louie Blue. According to marketing director Laura Trevino of Jel Sert, the company that owns Otter Pops as well as Fla-Vor-Ice , that was "around "—meaning that both ICEE and Otter Pops have a strong claim to being responsible for taking blue raspberry from its apparent beginnings at circuses, fairs, and concession stands and unleashing it upon the larger consumer world.

In any case, the flavor obviously proved popular: We suck down some million ounce blue raspberry ICEEs every year. And it wasn't to remain relegated to the freezer aisle forever: There are now blue raspberry Twizzlers introduced in , according to a Hershey's spokeswoman , and blue raspberry Jolly Ranchers first rolled out in , among other candies.

Why the switch? Common sense suggests that because the field of "red" flavors was already so crowded—cherry, strawberry, watermelon, cinnamon, cranberry, red apple—and there are scarcely any blue foods in nature, raspberry was simply traded from Team Red to Team Blue to avoid confusion among consumers.

Woods's explanation confirms that that was definitely part of the thinking. Unfortunately, Trevino didn't manage to track down any company records explaining the Otter Pops bosses' decision making.

But it isn't the whole story. Despite the positive study, later research continued to link the dye to illnesses, including a Soviet study that blamed it for cancer. In , in the face of years of growing consumer concerns, the FDA reversed decades of insistence that Red No. But that still leaves one question: Why did they go with such an obnoxious shade of blue, unadulterated Blue No.

A commonly repeated justification is that there are actually blue raspberries in real life. They're better known as white bark raspberries, and can ripen into a deep bluish purple.

As Woods noted, the bright blue happened to nicely match the red-and-blue color scheme of the ICEE logo, but that doesn't explain why other companies would decide to go blue too. So we asked Nadia Berenstein , a University of Pennsylvania food historian who specializes in the history of synthetic flavors. Berenstein took us back to and the writings of influential American chemist Melvin De Groote, who was among the first to study the effect of colors on flavor—he proved, for example, that most people couldn't identify a soda as grape-flavored unless it was colored purple.

Remember, you're actually tasting more "pineapple" and "banana" than raspberry in an artificially raspberry-flavored product. By Kevin Farrell April 25, Ever heard of Eau De Musc? Instead, it's an unusual flavoring component that gives Eau De Musc its signature scent and taste.

House of Tamworth, the distillery that makes the beavery bourbon currently available for curbside pickup , says that the castor sac excretions impart "bright and fruit qualities raspberry and rich leathery notes along with creamy vanilla aroma" upon their hooch. Which frankly sounds delicious. The only question is, why exactly does a glandular extract harvested from the backside of a beaver taste like raspberries and vanilla cream?

And also, why is my mouth watering right now? Castor sacs are a pair of glands located in subcutaneous cavities between the pelvis and base of the tail in beavers. Both male and female animals possess them, along with a second pair of anal glands. These two sets of glands work in tandem to release unique secretions that, when combined, can be used among beaver communities for marking and communication.

A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Laura Stampler. Red Dye: Ground Up Beetles. Ice Cream: Beaver Anal Glands. Beer: Fish Bladders. Wendy's Chili: Sand. Jello: Animal Connective Tissue. Gum: Sheep Secretions.

Cheese: Sawdust. Bread: Duck Feathers and Human Hair. Mushrooms: Maggots. Potato Chips: Cleaning Agents.