(Not) Plain Vanilla

Have you even used the term "plain vanilla" to mean something ordinary?
Because vanilla is anything but plain - the little brown bean known for its musky and sweet taste has a fascinating history and is one of the most popular flavourings of all time.

When the Spanish conquistadores came upon Montezuma enjoying a sweet beverage made of cocoa beans and vanilla pods, they would have no way of knowing how fundamental to the future of all things sweet their discovery was! Those two formerly exotic flavours make up a huge percentage of modern sweet treat flavourings.

When you think of ice cream, what two flavours come to mind most readily? When you're making a cake for a birthday or a just a plain old Tuesday, chances are good that either the cake or the icing or both are variations on chocolate or vanilla flavour. And what about milkshakes? Does anyone actually even order the strawberry ones? (strawberry milkshake lovers, please don't flame me.)

When food flavouring fads come and go - like the mango of a few years back, and now pomegranate - trusty old vanilla and chocolate remain.

Both these ancient flavourings are very versatile, lending themselves to a multitude of concoctions, even savoury ones. If however, there were to be a contest between vanilla and chocolate - I reckon, in a very "rock paper scissors" kind of way, vanilla would win every time. Why? Because while vanilla helps boost chocolate in any number of recipes - it makes the chocolate pop a little more - I doubt the same thing can be said for chocolate. When was the last time you added a little dash of chocolate to your vanilla ice cream recipe to make it sing?

The plant that produces vanilla pods is a tropical orchid - vanilla planifolia - that can reach a height of about 15 feet  and is a beautiful pale green colour. Remarkably, out of tens of thousands of varieties of orchid, it is the only edible one. That begs the question (for me anyway) of how the Aztecs knew to go to the trouble of curing and eating the right one?

True, good qaulity vanilla is usually very expensive, and the reason is a pretty good one - the vanilla orchid blooms for only a few hours once a year, if it's not pollinated in that time, it will die without making any vanilla beans. In order to ensure all the orchids in a plantation produce beans, they must be pollinated individually by hand, rather than leaving it to a few tiny (and I imagine exhausted) bees.

After the orchids are pollinated, the beans take 10 to 11 months to mature, after which they are cured for 6 months (in much the same way as cocoa beans are cured) to develop the distinct musky-sweet vanilla flavour. The best quality beans will have a whitish residue on the outside called vanillin which seeps out of the beans during the curing process.

Until the late 1800's, Mexico was the leading vanilla-producing country in the world. Today, about three quarters of the world's vanilla-bean supply comes from Madagascar. The other one quarter comes from Tahiti and Mexico. The Madagascan beans are the most flavourful, while the Tahitian beans are the most aromatic, at the expense of flavour. That is why perfumers prefer to use Tahitian vanilla.

Some Mexican vanilla products are made with an additive called coumarin, which is used to enhance the flavour. Unfortunately coumarin, an extract from the Tonka tree, is a potentially toxic substance that can cause liver and kidney damage. When buying Mexican vanilla, one should therefore take great care. If you're not sure about the provenance of a Mexican vanilla, choose another one.

There are lots of ways to use vanilla and some vanilla products are more heat-stable and therefore better suited to baked goods and the like.

Some of the vanilla products you might encounter are:

Vanilla powder is made from ground dried vanilla bean. It is much better than vanilla extract at retaining the vanilla flavour when heated.

Vanilla extract is also called vanilla essence and is the most common form of vanilla used today. It's made by soaking chopped beans in a 65% to 75% alcohol solution which is then aged for several months. You can make your own by slicing vanilla beans and keeping them in a jar of vodka, light rum or whiskey. I always have a bottle on the go. I usually prefer to use light rum. If stored in a cool dark place, extracts will keep indefinitely. Because it is alcohol based, extract should be added to cooked recipes for custard and ice cream after the cooking has finished and the mixture is cooled. This way, the heat won't evaporate the vanilla flavour.

Vanilla beans should be wrapped tightly, placed in an airtight container and stored somewhere dark and cool. The fridge is ideal. You should use your beans within 6 months. To use vanilla beans, use sharp scissors to cut them in half lengthwise, and scrape out the tiny seeds. These seeds can be added directly to foods. If I'm cooking a pudding or sauce, I'll often throw the whole pod right in too, pulling it out at the end of the cooking, as you would a bay leaf from soup. If you do only use the seeds, make use of the pod by using it to make vanilla sugar or your own home made extract.

Vanilla sugar is granulated sugar that has been infused with vanilla aroma and flavour in much the same way as risotto rice can be flavoured with truffle. I keep a jar of sugar with a few vanilla beans in my cupboard at all times.

Imitation vanilla and imitation vanillin are composed entirely of artificial flavourings which are extracted from pine sap or tar that has been treated with harsh chemicals. If the taste of the artificial vanilla isn't enough to keep you from using it, maybe the knowledge of its origin is! I know I'm not too keen to add tar or a wood-processing by-product to my cooking. White or clear vanilla is always artificial.

So, now that you've got the good stuff, what will you make with it?

A comforting, warm vanilla custard?
A delightfully speckled vanilla bean ice cream?
A fluffy vanilla chiffon cake or a dense triple vanilla pound cake?
some nifty, off the beaten path, vanilla and cornmeal cookies?
Or something a little out of the ordinary?

Comments

[Raspberry Sour]

I was just reading James Beard's ramble on vanilla last night ("Beard on Food"), and I'm convinced my dreams smelled like vanilla (along with a few others spices). What timing. Thanks for the beautiful photos and all the info.

[Tana]

I have a piece written by Patricia Rain, the Vanilla Queen, on my blog; it's about the importance of real vanilla, which is threatened in the world by the unannounced presence of synthetic vanilla in everything we buy in the grocery stores. The entry is here: The Vanilla Queen Speaks. And immediately following is a second piece by Patricia. Enjoy!

[Tania]

I adore vanilla, and I think you've written a great post! I was going to mention Patricia Rain, but Tana beat me to it. Still, you might want to check out her wonderful site, www.vanilla.com.

By the way, I'm tagging you ... http://candiedquince.ca/archives/53