Beaver glands 
? Thanks for the link. Hmm, should I buy 8 oz of Simply Organic Pure Vanilla Extract for $45 from Amazon or buy beans and make my own? Which bourbon should I use? Fingers tappingâŠ
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Iâve never tried making my own , but people do say itâs simple, and much cheaper. If youâre avouiding gluten and/or or corn, though. findng a suitable liquor is a tricky problem. (âŠor not, if you buy the logic that the distillation process removes all the gluten. Now , I canât argue with that logic, except to say that many folk on GF diets have learned , by bitter experience, to avoid anything distilled from gluten-containing grains. And that includes myself)
For my own part, I trust this stuff: Vanilla (MF), but thatâs even pricier, ounce-for-ounce isnât it.
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PS further to my previous reply, I just checked the citations on the Wiki article and found that nearly all of them date from around the turn of the century, and that the odd exceptions donât relate to commercial manufature at all. So , until someone gets around to updating it, itâs not a good source at all re. modern vanillin manufacture, Food manunufacture is making constant âadvancesâ
That said, you really do need to google the word âcornâ (or âmaizeâ), like i said, to get relevant info relating to corn. Itâs a notoriously âhiddenâ ingredient, just like wheat gluten was, until some 15- 20 years back. Once itâs been converted into âglucoseâ etc. there;s no legal obligation to acknowkege corn as an ingredient, and, whatâs more, the vast majority of food scientists , industralists etc would have zero interest in its derivation. Corn doesnât get left off labels deliberately, it just comes down to an all-round failure to regard it as significant.
So, it would be no surprise to me, if it so happened that Wikpedia still failed to mention âcornâ (just some commonly corn-derived ingredients) , even after updating that entry on vanillin.
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Normally I donât hang out in threads like this, but I have scanned it from time to time and I note that it must hold the record as one of the threads with the most mis-information and chemical inaccuracies posted. Whew! I canât comment on them all, but here is one for starters, because I am quite frankly surprised that the generally very knowledgeable food flavor types that hang around here have missed this one:
Bourbon vanilla typically refers to Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla. It is grown on the island of Madagascar, which is located off of the southeast coast of Africa and no actual bourbon whiskey is involved. Instead, the term Bourbon comes an earlier colonial-era appellation of RĂ©union island (i.e., Ăle Bourbon ). Madagascar produces some 75% of the worldâs vanilla crop. Other regions that traditionally grow vanilla are Mexicoâs state of Veracruz (the place of its origin) and the tropical island of Tahiti.
On the subject of corn allergy there are two important points. One is that a true âallergyâ is a reaction of your bodies ability to identify and react to foreign complex protein chains that it mis identifies as a âthreatâ. Simple molecules will not trigger such reactions.
From: Dr Janice Joneja : âThere are very few published reports of allergic reactions resulting from eating corn and little evidence to suggest that corn is a food that is likely to trigger severe or anaphylactic reactions. Only a few studies have tried to identify corn allergens. Indeed, some allergists have questioned whether corn allergy exists at all.â
In order to have a true âallergyâ you must have a chemical reaction between the equilibrium dissociation constant between the antibody and its antigen. This is a measurable reaction that can be studied and quantified in the lab. There is no known or measured reaction from corn proteins. Further these reaction only occur between very large and complex protein chains, not between simple molecules like sugar or Vanillin.
To be fair about all this, it is possible that there can be cross contamination during a low quality controlled food flavor manufacturers processes when using a precursor such as corn to get isolated flavor molecules. (again, the molecules, if pure, can not participate in antibody/antigen reactions. ). Additionally simple âintoleranceâ to certain foods and flavors is very common across the general population and is mistaken for âallergyâ. Personally the flavor of bananas make me feel quite sick, nauseous and unpleasant. But that IS NOT an allergy. These âintolerancesâ are commonly mistaken for âallergenic reactionâ, which brings up the following point:
It is worth noting that there is a large social culture that participates in what @Raven-Knightly called "âcelebrations of collective weaponized ignoranceâ ⊠This is not just occurring in the anti-vaping world, it is very much a part of what is becoming a large industry of food faddists that profit from selling to a group of self involved hypochondriacs. Allergies are one of their favorite feeding grounds. âAllergy Web Sitesâ as mentioned in several of the posts are loaded with horrendous mis information and scientifically unfounded rhetoric.
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prolly not the best place for a discussion on the science of allergies. But for my own part, I should note I used the term loosely as a catch-all for " true" allergies, the various types of gluten sensitivity, intolerances, mast cell disorders, Ig G4 disorders etc. , which was perhaps a bit silly, but all-too -common. I usually use the word âsensitivitiesâ to cover all that lot,. I guess I better revert to that terminology 
Aside from IgE reactions (that is the âtrueâ allergies) none of these are well enough understood as yet to make sweeping pronouncements, and can easily be misdiagnosed. or even disregarded . eg , its certainly certainly not true to say that someone with a mast cell disorder canât suffer anaphylaxis, though itâs true to say that they donât have a âtrueâ allergy. Of course, the problem there is that they often get tested for IgE antibodies by doctors then given the all-clear.
Iâll confess, I donât know what mechanism lies behind my own food sensitivities, and neither did my (NHS) allegist. He admitted that it was something, not entirely unknown, but so poorly understood by his profession, as yet, that the NHS doesnât take it seriously; and then he wished me good luck, after advising .me to overdose on antihistamines, if necessary ( as my reactions clearly do involve histamine overproduction, as well as potentially life-threatening symptoms such as asthma) The word âintoleranceâ is often used , by doctors, as a catch-all for all of the lesser-understood sensitivities. But it doesnât necessarily follow that theyâre less serious Some really are less serious, some are not.
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Well, if you get those kind of symptoms several hours after eating the banana (as is commonly the case ) then Iâd advise you to undergo a strict elimination trial (you can easily find instuctions on the web. I;ve done this several times over myself) to be sure itâs the banana, not something else. (ofc that wouldnât prove itâs an " allergy" only that whatever-it-is, itâs definitely triggered by banana) But Iâm guessing that you know full well itâs the banana cos you get those symptoms right away? and have correctly guessed that itâs entirely due to you disliking the taste of banana
Well, bully for you. That doesnât entitle you to be mockingly dismissive of everybody else.
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No. Not mockingly dismissive of everyone else. Let me clarify why I made the post I did:
My understanding of the readership of forum.e-liquids is that it is composed of a broad hierarchy of people with various skill levels, educational background, and general knowledge about the subjects discussed.
This means, to me, that we (you and I) have a responsibility not to mis inform and confuse others, and must be very careful when we post to assure we use âwordsâ in precise ways that align with their actual meanings, particularly when those words are terms of art in scientific disciplines. I can see from your posts that you do have a background in the allergy subjects. You said:
So that is all I ask, that we be careful. Then people reading here at forum.e-liquids that might be new or unfamiliar with the subject will get started off on the right foot
I am a NET tobacco vaper type and commonly harp on everyone here about the use of the word âtobaccoâ. I donât do that just to be 'mockingly dismissive", rather the reason is to help with the common confusions. Here is a clip from a larger post I made in response to a poor fellow that was suffering from hopeless confusion about his first few steps in the world of vaping. The whole thread and my detailed post is HERE and I think it is a good read.
you came into vaping thinking âHumm, tobacco seems like a reasonable place to startâŠâ So you used the word âtobaccoâ, not realizing that the vaping world you just stepped into was going to sucker punch you by changing the meaning of that word. It is just a marketing catchall word now that has rendered it meaningless. You said âtobaccoâ and they handed you RY4 ! What a dirty trick
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OK . Fair enough 
And thanks for the explanation.
For my own part, i felt like I was trapped in a sort of self-aggravating ,compelled -to-explain -myself loop , which is apt to induce a kind of mental nausea (think maybe Iâm allergic to certain types of dicussion? ) besides being apt to hijack a perfectly innocent thread.
So. that said, I shall seriously try to bow out at this point. Good to clear the air.
Peace.
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Agree. I have 2 bottles of the MF left and I donât think Iâll buy more.
As for allergies, I donât have any but I do have a small French oak cask which I could use for making vanilla with bourbon. Would make a great container to steep in after doing so. Iâve been putting it off because Iâm not a bourbon drinker and donât know which one to buy. Also, when Iâm done using it Iâd hate to throw away good bourbon. Any ideas?
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Iâm the wrong bod to ask about that,Iâm afraid, as I gave up drinking 30 years ago aside from strictly medicinal purposes (eg holding whisky in your cheek gives great- if short-lived - relief from toothache, even if itâs not really toothache but neuralgia, in fact, which is worse. I have no idea why. but whisky makes a much better local anaesthetic than brandy or what-have-you. but then, i had to give up that usage as well, wouldnât you know it, cos whisky contains gluten FFS.
âŠin short, enough with the Bourbon questions! Iâm sure somebody else can help much better with that one. Best of luck!
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I just decanted it to another glass bottle and drank it when I was done soaking the cask. I am an Irish whiskey fan with bourbon a second choice, but used a dark rum for mine to take advantage of rums sweet complex flavorings
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Thanks to everyone for the replies. Mine was ordered from a UK vendor (not chefs) Will be buying direct next time.
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