306
Incredible miscommunication
(thelemmy.club)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
306 points (98.1% liked)
tumblr
6416 readers
158 users here now
Welcome to /c/tumblr, a place for all your tumblr screenshots and news.
Our Rules:
-
Keep it civil. We're all people here. Be respectful to one another.
-
No sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia or any other flavor of bigotry. I should not need to explain this one.
-
Must be tumblr related. This one is kind of a given.
-
Try not to repost anything posted within the past month. Beyond that, go for it. Not everyone is on every site all the time.
-
No unnecessary negativity. Just because you don't like a thing doesn't mean that you need to spend the entire comment section complaining about said thing. Just downvote and move on.
Sister Communities:
-
/c/TenForward@lemmy.world - Star Trek chat, memes and shitposts
-
/c/Memes@lemmy.world - General memes
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
OK so Waldmeister is apparently an herb that is popular in German confectionery and beer and wine making. It’s called Sweet Woodrow in the US.
Waldmeister translates to “Master of the Forest.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_odoratum
Most Waldmeister products are also a vibrant green which I suspect adds to the attraction, especially in kids. Bit of a letdown to realise, as you grow older, that the colour is from additives.
(FUCK i just realised i'm out of waldmeister bussy. coke bussy it is then)
Especially since there are a lot of products out now which only list the additives and no actual flavouring on their ingredients. I.e. all the green colour but no taste (since it would have been swamped by other things anyway and is probably sorta expensive?)
It's poisonous BTW. German products with it are safe when consumed in reasonable quantities, but when you consume unreasonable quantities and the ingredient is subject to less strict food safety rules ...
The Wikipedia article seems to state otherwise: “Industrial usage of the plant for sweets was prohibited in Germany in 1974, due to coumarin, the flavorant found in woodruff, being toxic to rats and mice in studies. It has, however, not been found to be harmful to humans, even in large doses, in which it follows a different metabolic pathway.”
It says this:
I'd say that "not directly measured" isn't quite the same as "it's not toxic". It's not like ethical research is just going to administer significant daily dosages of suspected toxins to human research subjects.
Granted, it's also not very conclusive and it's probably safe to stop worrying about it for now. The sugar in most products with waldmeister is clearly a bigger issue.
There is no real Waldmeister in those or in other Waldmeister products. Its artificial or nature-like flavouring for many decades now, maybe half a century.
The special aromatics could be extracted from the plant with alcohol without risk of poisoning, therefore the Maibowle existed.
The relevant flavour compound is coumarin, which is exactly the compound that's supposed to be toxic.
OK, that differs from what I learned. I'll look things up when I've got time.
Also a medicinal plant.
basically everything both treats some sickness or kills you depending on dose
Interesting. TIL, because so far I thought that there was not even a name for this plant in English (except for the Latin scientific name).
So far, I've only seen this flavour to be used in German speaking countries.
Waldmeister is it's own unique flavour, comparable to menthol (mint) but different, used mostly for sweets/drinks. Quick googling shows that it's not known in US as a flavouring.
Sold Foodstuffs usually contain a artifical flavour from a cumarin derivative that is safer.
Comparable to mint? Reboot your tongue, and try again, something didn't process correctly.
Also leaves a cool sensation, the real one.