For the longest time I was confused about what "deer tongue" was. I thought that actual deer tongue was being put into tobacco. I went online and found that "deer tongue" is actually a chemical called Coumarin, and it was actually banned as a food additive in several countries since the mid-20th century (FDA banned it in the 1954). Evidently this chemical is an "immediate precursor" to rat poison.
Looking at the the chemical structure, the only difference is where there is an additional hydroxide group.
Deer Tongue:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coumarin
Rat Poison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-hydroxycoumarins
Sorry to point this out, but this is what I discovered, but thankfully, Coumarin is harmless in low concentrations.
That said, is this stuff tasty? I read that it's kind of a substitute for vanilla flavouring.
-Swilly
Looking at the the chemical structure, the only difference is where there is an additional hydroxide group.
Deer Tongue:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coumarin
Rat Poison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-hydroxycoumarins
Sorry to point this out, but this is what I discovered, but thankfully, Coumarin is harmless in low concentrations.
That said, is this stuff tasty? I read that it's kind of a substitute for vanilla flavouring.
-Swilly
