Castoreum

#### Castoreum. **Castoreum**** **is a secretion from the male or the female beaver. It is collected in a gland which produces an oily substance in which the beavers rub themselves in order to protect their fur from being soaked in water. **Castoreum **is a term normally used for the entire gland. The contents of the gland turn dark and hard when it is sundried. One gland weighs up to 100 grams. Thus, it is much less expensive than civet. **Castoreum**** **is collected in Canada (Hudson Bay in particular) and in the U.S.S.R. (Siberia, etc.). Canadian castoreum is pear-shaped, wrinkled on the surface, somewhat flat, *5** *to 17 cms. long, 2 to *5 *cms. wide. Siberian castoreum is egg- shaped and smooth on the surface, almost the same size as Canadian castoreum, but not flat. Siberian castoreum is considered inferior to the Canadian castoreum. **Castoreum**** **is used in perfumery in the form of various processed materials: **Tincture,**** ****Resinoid,**** ****Absolute.** **Castoreum**** ****Tincture**: See Tincture in Part One of this book. **Castoreum**** ****Resinoid**: is prepared from the animal tissue and the exudation inside. Accordingly, it should not be called a resinoid, but more truly a concrète. Castoreum contains no true resins. Benzene extraction of castoreum yields about 20% of a brown "resinoid". However, it is customary to prepare an alcohol-resinoid by direct extraction with hot alcohol. **Castoreum**** ****Absolute**: The above mentioned alcohol- "resinoid" is not a true absolute and it is not clearly soluble in cold alcohol. It can be prepared in a way that will cause it to be fairly soluble (chilling before evaporation). The yield by hot alcohol-extraction is about *75** *to 80% of a dark brown, soft unctuous mass. **Castoreum**** ****Anhydrol**** **is available. It offers certain notes of the castoreum gamut in an almost colorless liquid. **Castoreum **(the tincture in particular) is used extensively in perfumery. It's warm, animal, leather-like sweet odor makes it an interesting item in "men's perfumes", fougères, chypres, Oriental bases, leather notes, tabac bases, etc. A frequent "smoky" note in castoreum is not a natural odor, but is due to the drying of the glands over smoking fires. This curing or processing of the raw material may also be responsible for the so-called "birch-tar" note of castoreum. **Castoreum**** **products blend particularly well with ambra notes, calamus, cananga, cedarwood Atlas, chamomile moroccan, creosol, labdanum products, isoeugenol, oakmoss products, sandalwood oil, veratraldehyde, zingerone, etc. In flavor work, it has long been known that castoreum extracts or tinctures were useful in vanilla flavor compounds. One very well known vanilla specialty from a European house reveals this quite perceptibly. Conversely, vanilla extracts can be used to smooth down the coarseness of higher concentrations of castoreum products in fougères, leather bases, etc. **Castoreum**** **is readily available in quantities sufficient to meet the normal demand. One cannot say that the material is cultivated, but increased production would be possible. However, the use of castoreum has decreased during the past few decades.