# We're running out of chocolate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 15, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-running-out-of-chocolate/589165 "2011-07-15T19:48:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-running-out-of-chocolate/589165/22 "2011-08-06T00:19:45Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Most vanilla is synthetically produced via chemical processes that are too horrifying to contemplate. (Seriously, you don’t want to be thinking about things like conversion of the carboxylic acid into a thioester with acetyl-CoA, dimethylation of catechol followed by selective mono-demethylation, and hydroxylation of phenol using hydrogen peroxide when you’re eating a Nilla Wafer.) How do you think the vanilla plant makes the stuff? Not by those exact steps, of course, but it’s not wafted into existence in clouds of pink sugar smoke by the vanilla fairy. I’m sure you could write an equally “horrifying” set of chemical steps for the natural synthesis of vanillin. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-running-out-of-chocolate/589165/23 "2011-08-10T15:16:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Seriously, you don’t want to be thinking about things like conversion of the carboxylic acid into a thioester with acetyl-CoA, dimethylation of catechol followed by selective mono-demethylation, and hydroxylation of phenol using hydrogen peroxide when you’re eating a Nilla Wafer. Great, now it is going to be the only thing I think about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-running-out-of-chocolate/589165.md?page=1)