Gsus4Aug 12, 2025

Butter made from carbon tastes like the real thing, gets backing from Bill Gates

https://feddit.nl/post/40239390

Butter made from carbon tastes like the real thing, gets backing from Bill Gates - feddit.nl

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/34272214 [https://lemmy.world/post/34272214] > A California-based biotechnology startup has officially launched the world’s first commercially available butter made entirely from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and oxygen, eliminating the need for traditional agriculture or animal farming. Savor, backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates through his Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, announced the commercial release of its animal- and plant-free butter after three years of development. > > The revolutionary product uses a proprietary thermochemical process that transforms carbon dioxide captured from the air, hydrogen from water, and methane into fat molecules chemically identical to those found in dairy butter. According to the company, the process creates fatty acids by heating these gases under controlled temperature and pressure conditions, then combining them with glycerol to form triglycerides.

Show threaddogslayeggsAug 12, 2025

While I think this is pretty amazing science stuff, the writing is terrible. Here is the progression of the story as written:

They made butter from carbon…

Well, it’s actually made from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and oxygen…

OK, it’s actually made from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen, and methane…

Well, no, it’s actually made from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen, methane, and glycerol…

Wait, hang on, it’s actually made from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen, methane, glycerol, natural flavor, and lecithin…

Now, the source of glycerol is in question, because they say this butter is both animal and plant-free. Glycerol can be made synthetically, but it’s WAY more expensive to do it. Also, I’m not seeing any way to create lecithin without plants. They never say what the “natural flavor” is.

Show threadhalcyoncmdrAug 12, 2025

They never say what the “natural flavor” is.

A reminder that “natural flavor” doesn’t mean healthier or even something you might want over the artificially created flavors. It just means it comes from a natural source and is not lab created.

Castoreum, sometimes used for vanilla and raspberry flavoring, comes from beaver anal secretions. That would be labelled under a “natural flavor” and you’d never be told more than that.

I’ll take the artificial stuff any day just on principle there.

Show threadHoboAug 13, 2025

I think it’s worth pointing out that vanilla extract is from vanilla beans and artificial vanilla is whatever the fuck they feel like that tastes like vanilla. Also, modern artificial vanilla extremely rarely, if ever, is derived from Castoreum because it’s hard as hell to farm beavers and expensive as all fuck. The “artificial vanilla comes from beaver anal glands” is basically a prevalent internet myth that gets passed around like the, “You eat 7 spiders a year in your sleep.” myth.

Source: smithsonianmag.com/…/does-vanilla-flavoring-actua…

Does Vanilla Flavoring Actually Come From Beaver Butts?

Despite internet claims, castoreum—a substance found in beaver glands—is rarely used today as a food flavoring

Smithsonian Magazine
Show threadiopq
Incorrect, vanillin is the primary component of real vanilla beans and responsible for like 90% of the flavor.
Aug 13, 2025 at 7:17amWeb
Show threadHoboAug 13, 2025
I don’t understand what this would be correcting in what I said above. Can you show me what part this is correcting? Cause I’m legitimately confused.
Show threadiopqAug 13, 2025
You said artificial vanilla is whatever the fuck. It’s not, artificial vanilla is the main ingredient of natural vanilla, but without the other flavors
Show threadHoboAug 13, 2025

Ah gotcha! I for sure was not following what you were saying. I don’t know if that’s he real thrust of the point in my above comment, but I was more referring to the fact that artificial vanilla doesn’t necessarily come from vanilla beans. I should’ve been more precise with my language, but it’s worth noting that artificial vanilla is largely synthesized and comes from a variety of sources, not just vanilla beans (see below for the source/pertinent excerpt).

It also gets weird as to how the FDA regulates the term. I believe the key term is actually “Pure” in the “Pure Vanilla Extract” but don’t quote me on that. Not sure how it’s done by other regulatory agencies but it’s probably equally convoluted in a lot of places.

Source: www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en/…/vanilla-regulations

Pertinent excerpt:

However, many alternate routes to vanillin are well documented, including vanillin derived from spruce tree lignin, corn sugar, rice or wheat bran, clove oil, curcumin, or guaiacol.

Vanilla Regulations

Vanilla Regulations – The Law and the Labeling of the World’s Most Popular Flavor

Show threadiopqAug 14, 2025
Yes, that’s true, but the vanillin in the artificial stuff is chemically identical to the real thing