Gland Gushers (
Castoreum, Gelatin, and Animal Extracts: Biology’s Gross Grocery Gifts)

Picture this: You’re savoring that “natural flavor” strawberry yogurt or vanilla ice cream, blissfully unaware it’s spiked with castoreum—a fancy word for oily goo squeezed from beaver castor sacs, parked right next to their anal glands and urinary tract. North American and European beavers churn this out to mark territory, but food boffins harvest it for its fruity, vanilla-ish vibe (used in tiny doses, like <10 ppm). Who tasted beaver butt first and yelled “raspberry!”? Science doesn’t say, but your snack sure does.