- Flavoring agent derived from vanilla.
Contents
Uses
- Synthetic vanillin is now used more often than natural vanilla extract as a flavoring agent in foods, beverages, and pharmaceuticals.
- The largest use of vanillin is as a flavoring, usually in sweet foods. The ice cream and chocolate industries together comprise 75% of the market for vanillin as a flavoring, with smaller amounts being used in confections and baked goods.
- Vanillin is also used in the fragrance industry, in perfumes, and to mask unpleasant odors or tastes in medicines, livestock fodder, and cleaning products. It is also used in the flavor industry, as a very important key note for many different flavors, especially creamy profiles such as cream soda.
- Vanillin has been used as a chemical intermediate in the production of pharmaceuticals and other fine chemicals. In 1970, more than half the world’s vanillin production was used in the synthesis of other chemicals, but as of 2004, this use accounts for only 13% of the market for vanillin.
- Vanillin stains the analytes seen in this chromatogram of 10 essential oils.
- Additionally, vanillin can be used as a general-purpose stain for developing thin layer chromatography plates to aid in visualizing components of a reaction mixture. This stain yields a range of colors for these different components.
Benefits
- Vanilla in its pure form has a few health benefits. Real vanilla extract contains a number of antioxidant compounds, at least according to one study. Interestingly enough, this same study claims that vanillin contains a much lower amount of protective activity. Vanilla extract may also be helpful for fighting bacteria
Cautions
Vanillin can trigger allergic reactions, as well as migraine headaches in a small fraction of the people who experience migraines.
Other names
Methyl vanillin
References
Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanillin
Global healing Centre, http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/vanillin/