I’ve read anecdotes that very devout LDS will not use vanilla extract in their cookies (source: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/whats-not-on-the-mormon-menu.html. See under “probably OK”)–or even eat baked goods made with it. If they embrace this level of doctrinal rigor, where does that leave mouth rinses like Listerine and Scope that contain a certain level of alcohol? Granted, I’m not aware that the First Presidency has ever declared mouthwash off-limits, so it may be a matter of personal interpretation. How do the more-devoted Mormons handle the question (if at all)?
If you take 100 random, active, faithful LDS members, I would bet that less than 2 would have ANY problem with eating something made with vanilla extract.
If you attend 100 random Mormon-sponsored social activities, I would imagine that 99 of them serve homemade baked goods containing vanilla extract. Mormons are famous for having a sweet-tooth.
I would be surprised if it is even two. I have been around Mormons my whole life. I have never heard a single person express any reservations about either vanilla extract or mouthwash.
As far as mouthwash is concerned, you don’t swallow, it, so I don’t see how it would be a problem regardless.
Out of idle curiosity, how much of the alcohol content of vanilla extract (assuming one is using the type which actually does have alcohol content) evaporated during cooking?
I’ve never heard of anyone having a problem with mouthwash or vanilla. How much alcohol is absorbed by your tongue with Listerine? I assume it’s a trivial amount.
I used to take NyQuil as a Mormon, even though it’s 17% alcohol. My high school friends encouraged me to exploit this loophole. Fortunately for my liver, I demured.
Mormons will not, however, consume rum chocolates and the like.
As a lifelong Mormon, I have never heard anyone quibble over vanilla or mouthwash. The “official” list of prohibited items consists of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, coffee, tea and illegal drugs. On those items there is no debate. Anything else is a matter of personal conscience.
Many Mormons expand this to include things like caffeinated sodas, hot chocolate and other things. Some will go to extremes and reject things like processed foods, refined sugar, white bread, etc. but that is their own choice and not in any way decreed by the church.
The basic principle is that we should use our own brains to determine which foods are healthy and unhealthy and make choices accordingly.
I agree that it is a matter of personal interpretation. I knew a Mormon woman who wanted to make a flambe dessert for the missionaries, but didn’t want have to explain to the cashier that she was buying rum for the Elders. I was pretty much the same when I was a Mormon. I bought some sherry for a stroganoff recipe, but I got it at the grocery store and hid it in the bottom of my cart. I would have liked to cook some things with rum but couldn’t imagine myself in such a sinful place as the State Liquor Store. At restaurants, I ordered dishes made with wine. I never hesitated to use mouthwash or cook with vanilla. I felt guilty for using NyQuil, but still used it when I needed it. As a general rule, I figured if they didn’t have to ID me then I wasn’t drinking.
A couple of days ago my wife made pina colada cupcakes at an uber-Mormon home. They didn’t have a cup of Malibu, but they did have a half bottle of creme de cacao. I’d guess that a small minority of active Mormon homes have liquor for cooking, but it’s not explicitly forbidden.
I’m not Mormon or Muslim, so I’ll just address the general question in the title.
AFAIK, most teetotaling religions forbid the consumption of alcohol. Since mouthwash is traditionally spit out, it would not qualify.
I could imagine a super-strict sect that said it couldn’t touch it at all, and I can imagine people who would rather not use it. But it’s nowhere near ubiquitous.
I say that as a former member of a teetotalling sect. We don’t even keep alcohol around for cooking, and we always use imitation vanilla extract. But mouthwash is fine.
Baha’is do not drink but I’ve never heard anything said about mouthwash. You are not supposed to cook with alcohol either, because for baha’is being anti-alcohol isn’t just about consumption, but also not supporting liquor makers.
I’ve been Mormon my whole life and never heard of anyone balking at using vanilla. A good few of us won’t cook with alcohol (like me, I don’t do it and I hate the taste anyway), but others will. My brother likes to tell about the time he was dumpster-diving and found a bottle of wine he figured he would take home to his wife for cooking, and then a trucker guy stopped and asked for directions and my brother wound up talking with him about the LDS Church–while standing in a Dumpster with a bottle of wine in his hand.
I use mouthwash and I’m sure many other Mormons do too. Look at our teeth and how many dentists we’ve got, after all. We all look like this :D. And I don’t know too many folks who won’t take NyQuil when they’re sick.
As FBG said, the basic principle is that we should use our own brains to determine which foods are healthy and unhealthy and make choices accordingly.
Looking at the linked article, I think tiramisu is probably something most Mormons wouldn’t eat. If you can’t plausibly say that the alcohol is cooked off, that would be a no-no.
Yeah, tiramisu runs afoul on two counts: coffee and liquor. As someone who has unfortunately consumed a lot of bland Mormon tiramisu, let me assure you it’s much more of a tiramigiú.
Why do you always need to take at least two Mormons with you when you go fishing?
If you only take one he’ll drink all your beer.
And there’s another good one that has the punchline " A Mormon doesn’t recognize another Mormon in the liquor store".
In my experience, it varies by individual to individual…I remember going to dinner with some Mormon associates and one woman ( who had a more rural sheltered upbringing than the others ) hesitated to order a main dish that had a wine sauce and one of the Mormon men at the table gave her a distinctly exasperated look and said “The alcohol burns off”.
However, at the same meal, I tried my dessert and got the strong taste of uncooked rum…I immediately mentioned it to my friends and the ones that had ordered what I had sent it back for something else…I confess to wondering if they would’ve done so if no one had mentioned it, though.
In 2006 we went to Libya to see a total solar eclipse. The folks arranging the trip told us, based on their reconnaisance, to not even think about bringing in anything that had any touch of alcohol in it. The least that would happen, if it were found, would be that it would be confiscated. The worst you didn’t want to know about.
As previously indicated, there are definitely non-alcohol mouthwashes.