A popular food influencer has left the internet stunned after revealing that a popular European cooking ingredient is actually illegal in the US.
Claire Dinhut, known as @condimentclaire on TikTok and Instagram shared a short video highlighting the ingredient as part of an apricot jam recipe.
The American-French social media star described that the ingredient “smells and tastes like vanilla, but like a very almond hay vanilla, a bit like [the plant] woodruff.’
The spice, which is quite popular in France, is in fact the seed of the South American coumaru tree.
But despite it being regularly used in recipes around the world, Claire explained that she cannot get her hands on the ingredient in her native country, the US, as it is banned.
Claire Dinhut, known on TikTok and Instagram as @condimentclaire, shared a short video highlighting the ingredient as part of an apricot jam recipe
She described that it “smells and tastes like vanilla, but like a whole almond hay vanilla, kind of like [the plant] woodruff’
Known as the tonka bean, it has been illegal in the US since 1954 due to its high content of the chemical coumarin, which can be toxic to humans in high enough doses.
“But it’s super popular here in France,” Claire said, adding that you’d have to consume almost thirty tonka beans to reach a toxic amount.
But as she demonstrated when making the jam, she grated just a single tonka bean into her mixing bowl, combined with about a pound of chopped apricots.
Cassia cinnamon, which is commonly found in spice cabinets in the US, has a much higher concentration of coumarin, as reported by the BBC.
Claire defended the tonka bean – which appears to be about the consistency and color of an almond – and continued: ‘I just think it flavors things so nicely.
“And some people consider it imitation vanilla, because vanilla beans can be super expensive.” But tonka beans aren’t cheap either.
“So I don’t know if I’d call them imitation vanilla, but they’re really nice. Apparently they are used very often in Latin America, but I didn’t know that because that’s where they are grown.’
Elsewhere on her feed, Claire showed off the finished jar of apricot and tonka bean jam, which she polished off herself shortly afterwards, paired with several soft cheeses and a glass of red wine.
Claire revealed the ingredient was the tonka bean and demonstrated how she grated just one in an apricot jam recipe to flavor it – while almost 30 were needed to be poisonous.
Claire is half French and half Greek-American and grew up between Los Angeles and the French countryside
Hundreds responded to the comments on the revelation about the legality of the tonka bean – with many pointing out that the US apparently allows much more dangerous additives
Last year, Claire delved into her personal history on her TikTok – a history that has directly influenced her interest and taste in cuisine.
She is half French and half Greek-American and grew up between Los Angeles and the French countryside. This upbringing has given her a love for seasonal produce and she enjoys experimenting with fresh ingredients she can find.
On Claire’s tonka bean video, hundreds of people took to the comments to discuss the revelation about the seed and its legality.
“Me, a perfume lover who only associates tonka bean with perfume and doesn’t realize that people eat them too,” one person admitted.
“In the meantime, Brazil nuts are available and apparently you can only eat two a day,” commented a second.
“Really…that’s what the US bans…?!” a third agreed in disbelief, given the FDA’s notoriously lax policy on ingredients and food additives well-documented negative health consequences.
“The US… where carcinogens in bleached flour and preservatives are fine, but this thing you have to eat thirty of is banned…,” chimed in a fourth.
