Food! For most it is a delight, for some it is a curse, but for all it is necessary for life. For the most part we know what we are eating - especially when we home cook, but beneath the shiny packets of mass-produced foods, lie ingredients that don’t bear thinking about. This list explores ten of the most unusual ingredients used in cooking today - this is not a historic list - this is about food now. Enjoy!
Gold is one of the most popular metals used in jewelry. It is also very useful in electronics. In addition to its more common uses, gold is used as a food additive - usually for decorative purposes in the form of gold leaf (E number E175). It is quite popular as an additive to alcoholic drinks and there is a traditional Polish and German liqueur called Goldwasser (Goldwater) which contains thousands of tiny flakes. Gold is inert to body chemistry so it passes through the body unaltered and has no nutritional value.
In August, 2006, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the use of bacteriophages in the preparation of food (specifically ready to eat meat products). A bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacteria; the point of applying these viruses to food is that they will kill any bacteria that might cause food poisoning. Every year, 2,500 Americans get sick from listeriosis - consequently, millions of Americans now regularly chow down on viruses added intentionally to stop those few thousand people getting sick. The FDA does not require that food treated with these viruses should carry a label. Frighteningly, they say: “As long as it [is] used in accordance with the regulations, we have concluded it’s safe.” Worthwhile? You be the judge.
Borax: fire retardant, insecticide, treatment for horse thrush, ingredient in glass and detergent, and… ingredient. Luckily for the Americans reading, borax is illegal as a food additive there, but not so in many other nations. It is often used as a preservative in caviar, and in some Asian countries it is found in noodles, meatballs, and steamed rice. It has an E number of E285. It can have serious toxic effects on humans (particularly effecting the testes).
Once upon a time, amaranth was used as a food coloring (red to be specific) but scientific testing found it to be extremely carcinogenic, so someone came up with a replacement: allura red AC (also know by the E number E129). Allura Red AC is made from coal tar (a liquid that is a by-product of turning coal into coal gas or coke). Coal tar is flammable and is frequently used in medicated shampoos designed to kill head lice. It is also used to make tylenol. While allura red AC is not carcinogenic, it can cause vomiting and other side-effects in some people. Despite this, it is FDA approved and very common in candy and soft drinks.
Okay - to be more exact we are talking about shellac which was very commonly used as a varnish back in the old days (from around 1880 - 1930) before it was replaced with lacquer. Shellac is used in baking and in mass produced candy to give the finished product a nice shine. The most likely source of shellac in most of our reader’s diets will be from Skittles - the colorful coated chocolate candies. Now that we know how much we love to eat shellac, we should probably also point out that it is made from a secretion of the female lac beetle. She excretes the shellac onto branches in order to help her cocoon stick.
Cochineal and carmine are two red food colorings that are derived from bugs - the cochineal bug to be exact. Cochineal is produced by drying and pulverizing the whole body of the bug, while carmine is a derivative of cochineal powder. The bugs are usually killed by immersing them in boiling water - the amount of time they spent in the water determines the level of redness - whether it be a lighter orange color or a vivid red. 155,000 insects are needed to make two pounds of food dye. Cochineal has been used for hundreds of years and it is also a very popular cloth dye.
You read that right… Cigarette smoking has been banned from bars and pubs all around the world, so someone came up with a brilliant idea: if you can’t smoke it - eat it! The trick is to take a fine bottle of spirits (usually vodka but sometimes brandy, etc) and drop a smoke or two in it (or a cigar in the case of brandy). The nicotine - and other chemicals, seep out of the cigarette and infuse flavor and color into the drink. These concoctions are often called “nicotine tea”. I was fortunate (?) enough to try one at a bar recently and I can’t say I enjoyed the drink a great deal.
On a previous list we mentioned civet coffee, the very expensive coffee beans that are gathered from the poop of civets, and if it weren’t for the fact that civet anal juice is now replaced by a synthetic chemical (civetone), it would be on this list. However, beaver anal juice (castoreum) is not (yet) able to be synthesized and it is still used in foodstuffs. It is most commonly found as a flavor enhancer in raspberry products - apparently it adds a nice rounded flavor. It is also found in chewing gum and cigarettes. The question is - who the hell discovered that beaver poop juice tasted good with raspberries?
L-cysteine is an amino acid that is commonly used in baked goods because it adds elasticity and helps soften dough. It is also commonly used in hair perm solutions. You can find it in bagels, doughnuts, bread, cookies, and frankly, a hell of a lot of yummy things. The cheapest way to produce it (and therefore the most common source at present) is by a special chemical process using human hair - most of which is sourced (and prepared) in China. Because of this, it has led to some debate over whether eating products containing l-cysteine is a type of cannibalism. In China it was also used in the production of soy source: “When asking [the soy manufacturer] how the amino acid syrup (or powder) was generated, [he] replied that the powder was generated from human hair. Because the human hair was gathered from salon [sic], barbershop [sic] and hospitals around the country, it was unhygienic and mixed with condom [sic], used hospital cottons, used menstrual cycle pad [sic], used syringe [sic], etc.”
A common ingredient found in poop is called skatole. The word comes from the ancient Greek root “skat” which means “dung” - this is the same root from which we get “scatology” - the study of feces. It is derived from mammals (it is produced in their digestive tract) and it smells (not surprisingly) like poop. This delightful ingredient is used in cigarettes, many perfumes and - most importantly for the purposes of this list, strawberry ice cream. Like the beaver ass above, someone discovered that strawberry flavor is greatly enhanced with the addition of a little dung. Frankly, I will stick to pepper.
Contributor: JFrater
译文:
十大怪异食物配料
食物!很多人提到食物就兴高采烈，有些人则是头痛不已。但是对所有人来说，食物是生活中必不可少的东西。我们都知道自己吃的什么——尤其是当我们自己动手煮食的时候。但是在大量食品的华丽包装下，隐藏着我们无法想象的食品成分。这份清单包含了用于今天烹饪上的十大奇特食品配料。这可不是陈年烂渣哦。现在展开食物之旅，玩的愉快！
金子是珠宝中最常见的金属之一。在电子产品中金子也十分有用。除了这些用途外，金子还可以用来做食品添加剂——通常是薄金属片的形式用于装饰。金子在酒精饮料重用做添加剂是很常见的。有种叫Goldwater的波兰德国甜酒就含有成千上万的小薄片。在人体里流动时，金子化学性质不活泼，没有发生变化，进而也没有营养价值。
在2006年八月，美国食品药物管理局批准在生产食物（特别是肉类产品）使用噬菌体。噬菌体是一种抑制细菌的病毒。将这种病毒运用到食物上的原因是他们可以消灭任何可能引起食物中毒的细菌。每年有2500的美国人患上李氏杆菌病。现在，成百万的美国人经常特意在食品中加入病毒，以防还有人继续患上这种疾病。FDA并不要求含有噬菌体的食物必须带有标签说明。他们略有担心的说：“只要这种病毒的食物符合法律法规，我们就放心使用。”值得吗？你自有答案。
硼砂：灭火剂，杀虫剂，用于治疗马蹄腐烂，玻璃和洗涤剂的组成成分，还有食物配料。美国人值得庆幸的是，硼砂是不允许用作食品添加剂的，但是在许多其他国家是允许使用的。在鱼子酱中，硼砂经常用作防腐剂，还有一些亚洲国家，硼砂还用于面条，肉球和糯米饭中。硼砂作为食品添加剂的编码是E285.它对人体有严重的副作用，（特别是影响睾丸）。
很久以前，笕属植物曾经用做食物染色剂（尤其是染红色），但是经过科学测试发现它是致癌的，于是有人提出用诱惑红（食品添加剂编码E129）作为代替。阿洛拉红AC是从煤油中提炼出来的（把煤变为煤气或者焦煤时产生的一种液体）。煤油具有易燃性，通常用于药物洗发水中杀死虱子。它也可以制造羟苯基乙酰胺。虽然诱惑红是非致癌物质，但是会导致恶心，一些人还会出现其他副作用。尽管如此，煤焦油通过了FDA的验证，常用于糖果和软饮料中。
更准确来说，我们讨论的是虫胶，在旧时（大约1880~1930年）常用作一种指甲油。直到后来虫胶被喷发胶代替。虫胶可以用来烘焙，以及用于大规模生产的糖果，给制成品镀上一层诱人的光泽。虫胶最有可能的来源是Skittles——彩色包装的巧克力糖果。既然现在知道我们有多爱吃虫胶，那不得不指出的是虫胶是由雌紫胶甲虫的分泌物提取而成的。她排泄虫胶到枝干上，用来粘合茧。
胭脂红和洋红色是两种从昆虫身上提取的食物染色剂，准确来说是胭脂虫。胭脂红是通过晒干昆虫，将其身子碾成粉末制成的。而深红色则是胭脂虫粉末的派生物。将这种虫子丢进沸水中，一直到从水中的颜色可以看出它的红色程度，是淡橘红色还是明艳的红色。制作两磅的食物染剂大概需要155，000只昆虫。数百年来一直在使用胭脂虫，它是非常好用的衣服染色剂。
你念得没有错。现在全世界的酒吧俱乐部都禁止吸烟，所以有些人提出很荒诞的主意：如果你不能抽烟，那就吃了它！这个小伎俩就是拿出一瓶上好的烈酒（通常是伏特加或白兰地等等），将一支烟或两支烟放进去，（如果说白兰地，则一支雪茄）。尼古丁和其他从香烟终身透出的化学物质会在饮料中析出味道和颜色。这种混合物称为“尼古丁茶”，我“有幸”在一家酒吧试过一杯，实在是不敢恭维。
在之前的清单中我们有提过麝猫香咖啡，一种十分珍贵的咖啡豆，从麝猫的粪便中提取。如果不是因为海狸尿果汁被一种合成化学物质取代，他也会记录在内。然而，海狸尿果汁（海狸香）是没办法合成的，不过它仍用在食品上。在树莓产品中海狸香用作增味剂，增加了一种舒爽醇厚的口感，同时也用于口香糖和香烟中。问题就是——究竟是那个混蛋发现海狸排泄物和着树莓好吃的？
L-半胱氨酸是一种氨基酸，经常用于烘焙食品，因为它可以增强弹性，软化面团。L-半胱氨酸还可以用于修护头发烫染。不仅如此，还可以用在百吉圈，炸面圈，面包，饼干以及一些甜得发腻的东西。制造L-半胱氨酸最简单的方法是用特殊化学工序加工人发，这也是目前最常见的方法。正因为如此，一些争论也就产生了，是否使用含有L-半胱氨酸的产品是一种同类相食。在中国，L-半胱氨酸也可以用于制造酱油。当问及将有生产商这种氨基酸糖浆或粉末是如何产生的，他的回答是由人的头发制成的。因为人的头发是从全国的沙龙、理发店和医院收集来的，这是很不卫生的，还混合了避孕套，用过的医用棉花、卫生护垫和废弃注射器等等。
排泄物的常见成分叫粪臭素。这个句子来源于古罗马的词根“skat”，意指粪便，同样也是“粪便学”（一种关于粪便的研究）的词根。这些都是从哺乳动物的消化肠道中产生，味道像屁一样（不要惊讶）。这种成分曾用于香烟，许多香水，还有列举这份清单最重要的目的，草莓冰欺凌。就像上述的海狸粪便，有人发现加入一点粪便，草莓味会更加醇厚。坦白说，我还是坚持用胡椒好了！
Contributor: JFrater