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Comment by OldGuyInTheClub | Hacker News Reader

As a chemist I know what coumarin is but had no idea of its place in the chemical industry, least of all as a substitute for vanillin which looks nothing like it. Often, two molecules that are just sliiiightly different will have entirely different functions. Here, two molecules that are completely different can be substituted in some capacity.

But, damn, what a fine piece of writing. A seamless connection of facts and reminiscences all taking me somewhere. The author tells his family's and their extended family's story, without all the contortions and schnookery involved in "telling a story" in our marketing-besotted culture.

"Touching the product makes it different" is a remarkable turn of phrase.

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> without all the contortions and schnookery involved in "telling a story" in our marketing-besotted culture.

This is probably the only story I've read on here that didn't reek of self promotion or self aggrandization, or even a "I did this so you don't have to" -- it was the kind of story you might find on Blogger back in the day. Exceedingly rare now.

I eagerly read some of the other posts on the author's site and came away rather disappointed. But, that doesn't detract from my appreciation of this one.

I wonder if that has something to do with the experience of death. Narcissistic god complex in those who haven’t had it. Humility and a real sense of purpose, legacy and a connection with those who came before and who will come after in those who have.

Probably not true in such simplistic terms. But I can certainly observe a change in that direction in my own life. And if you read works of people in their 20s from 100 years ago (pre antibiotics), you see a lot less narcissism also. (May just be survivorship bias, of course.)

Pre-internet and an ever-increasing race for attention, too.

Writing to process and reflect on loss naturally brings more vulnerability and introspection to one’s writing. I’m not sure that would carry over to all your subsequent work, though.

Vanilla bean != Vanillin, since the smell of natural vanilla bean has a many more components to it other than Vanillin which lend it that characteristic odor (sweet, animalic, slightly woody and herbaceous).

Vanillin by itself is of course a principle component. However, coumarin and vanillin don't smell too similar. Coumarin has more of a herbaceous, 'hay' smell, quite different from vanillin itself.

Agreed. My use of "substitute" was a bad choice. I would not have thought that coumarin could/would be used as a component in vanilla substitutes.

"They make glue out of horses. I don’t know who started that. Who saw that potential? That’s pretty amazing to me..." --- Jerry Seinfeld [1]

[1] https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/comedy/jerry-seinfeld-im-telli...

I know it’s a rhetorical question—but I’m sure that someone discovered animal glues because they were cooking, left the animal products to cook in water, and then let it dry out.

You cook it because it’s supposed to be food, but sometimes you’re left with this thick, sticky substance. Voilà, glue.

I spend an inordinate amount of time wondering how people discovered amadou, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadou as well as glue.

manioc is the one that really makes me wonder, it needs some pretty complex and time consuming processing before it's not poisonous.

Right- reminiscent of nixtamalization.

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