How is smoke flavoring made?

Question

My wife and daugher are vegetarians and we recently heard from someone that smoke flavoring was made from a byproduct of cooking animal fat/meat. This of course would make smoke flavoring non-vegetarian.

Does anyone know how smoke flavoring is made?

Answer 1

I've been in the plant that makes Colgin brand liquid smoke and it's basically made with the worlds biggest bong. They have a small chamber that burns wood, the smoke is vacuumed into a large tank of water and vinegar so the smoke is trapped in the water. The exhaust stack at the top of the tank has almost no smoke odor left!

There is NO meat at their plant! Just wood, water, vinegar and some salt, molasses and caramel that they add before bottling. Well, come to think of it the employees may have some meat in their fridge but nowhere near the production area.

I've never heard of ANY brand that adds or uses animal ingredients!

Answer 2

That's one way. Another is to use chemicals.

"Natural smoke flavoring" is typically made by burning something (and it might be animal, but not necessarily) with the relevant wood. The water vapor is collected and condensed. It's then mixed with vinegar, water, preservatives, etc.

The resultant product does not CONTAIN animal in the traditional sense. If you've ever walked past a place where meat was cooking, you "ingested" about the same amount of animal matter as you'd get from smoke flavoring.

And that assumes that animal matter was used, which is not necessarily the case. Cost considerations come into play. Not just the cost of the "meat" but also the storage and disposal. Other products, like wood, do not have such issues.

If you have an ethical issue, then you might as well stay away. Of course, it's a good bet that SOMETHING that you use is coming to you thanks to animals dying or being mistreated. In other words, there is more animal cruelty involved in, say, the daily use of your car, then a whole bottle of liquid smoke,

If you have a religious reason, then best to stay away until you've verified.

If you have an allergy, then it may be an issue.

If you don't eat meat for health reasons, then no problem. Smoke flavor contains no fat, etc.

In other words, IF there was animal involved in the making, it's in such trace quantities that it's unlikely to be an issue.

Answer 3

Well, I don't know about ALL smoke flavoring, but I ate some delicious faux bacon the other day that had smoke flavoring and was certified by the Vegan Society. The Vegan Society wouldn't certify it if the smoke flavoring came from burnt animals.

Answer 4

You can make your own smoke flavoring. This link kind of describes the process

http://www.cincypost.com/living/1999/smoke052299.html

All it has is smoke and water.

Answer 5

it's vinegar infused with a wood smoke concentrate (like hickory or mesquite). You know how when you cook in a smoker, the flavor from the burning wood infuses itself to your food, they are able to capture that using vinegar. no animal by-products...

Answer 6

I don't know what it is made from but I am pretty sure that not exactly kosher with vegetarian and vegan diets.