Real Vanilla Isn't Plain. It Depends On (Dare We Say It) Terroir

NPR ^ | August 29, 2014 | APRIL FULTON AND ELIZA BARCLAY

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

And for their extract they use rum rather than bourbon.
At least the bottle my wife brought home from her Haiti trip did. I spent some time trying to identify why it did not taste like American Vanilla.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Calling your attention to this thread! I think that Nick posted this with you in mind! Orchids and Vanilla!

[Mears]

Trader Joe’s is the bomb (as the kids would say).

.

[DManA]

LOL, since it is impossible (or prudent) to keep up with what the kids say, I have learned never to say “as the kids say”.

[lucky american]

Vanilla beans are very expensive. I get 16 small beans for 50 dollars at my local spice goods store. It’s easy to make the real vanilla. Get a bottle of good vodka and put the beans in it and let them soak. Takes a while for the vodka to soak in all that delicious vanilla flavor but worth the wait. I use it in everything I bake.

[Pkeel]

http://www.beanilla.com/madagascar-vanilla-beans-extract-grade-b

[Mears]

:-)

[Nepeta]

I worked at RT French (mustard? red pennant? once had their own line of herbs and spices) for several years and worked with vanilla beans.

Real vanilla extract is wonderful. It has at least 1000 different components, which is part of its subtlety. After you've used the real thing, artificial vanilla is a rotgut kind of product, cheap but harsh. Don't waste your money and time using this inferior product. Your sugar cookies and ice creams will make the difference obvious.

Regarding Mexican vanilla. I would not touch it. Mexican food and drug laws are whimsical, and following them seems to be optional--even if you buy a product labeled like the American-made analogue, someone may have used a different component than what is on the label, as I discovered when analyzing some Mexican Crest during my days as a Proctoid. The label doesn't mean what you read on Mexican packages--and I am talking about a major, active ingredient in this particular version of Crest.

Mexican vanilla is commonly spiked with coumarin-related compounds, which make it smell wonderful and a lot of Americans buy it, but these particular compounds were removed from American artificial vanilla decades ago when they were shown to be carcinogenic. They do not naturally occur in vanilla beans.

Find a brand of real vanilla you like, and stick with it.

Or do what I did at RT French, and set up a Soxhlet extraction and make your own!

[blam]

History Of Vanilla

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks, Pete! Love them both. :)

Breyer’s Real Vanilla Ice Cream ROCKS!

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/everydaycooking/tastetests/vanilla-ice-cream

I make my own vanilla extract with beans and brandy. It’s a Wisconsin thang. :)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Ice cream and summer in Wisconsin!

(Someone in Madison needs to breed a Vanilla orchid that can grow in a cedar bog with only 3 months of summer!)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Is that a challenge? LOL!

[Fungi]

My late aunt, twice removed. Pretty dress is it not? She made it herself in less than a day.

Dictyophora indusiata

Thanks for the tips.

[BykrBayb]

Great seamstress. Bit of an exhibitionist though. She would make my Indian ancestors blush!

I was going to post a blush colored Indian motorcycle, but when I googled it, I blushed.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

No, but if you wanted to make a name for yourself among botanists and try to develop a cold hardy vanilla orchid....

http://www.ask.com/wiki/Vanilla_(genus)?o=2801&qsrc=999&ad=doubleDown&an=apn&ap=ask.com

“Vanilla, the vanilla orchids, form a flowering plant genus of about 110 species in the orchid family (Orchidaceae). The most widely known member is the Flat-leaved Vanilla (V. planifolia), from which commercial vanilla flavoring is derived...”

http://www.orchid-care-tips.com/hardy-orchids.html

“Cold hardy epiphytes are rare. Almost all temperate orchids are terrestrial, growing in the ground. This most often means boggy habitats. It’s necessary to prepare the soil to match the conditions your orchid expects. For orchids that grow in bogs...” (More at link)

Orchidaceae Vanilla planifolia subs. Diana ab Wisconsinsis “The huntress” Nice sound! I suppose its something to do with 40 years of retirement ahead?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

LOL!

Did you know that the, ‘Granny Smith’ apple was discovered in Australia, while ‘Granny Smith’ was using parts of apples to to breed her orchids?

The only time I have time to do this kind of stuff is in the winter and it costs too much to heat my greenhouse in these brutal Wisconsin winters!

This winter, put, ‘Flower Confidential’ by Amy Stewart on your reading list. You’ll love it! :)

http://www.amystewart.com/books/flower-confidential/

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

So she was an orchid grower not an orchardist? Interesting!
There is a cold hardy apricot that was found growing in a farmers trash area in New Berlin Wisconsin.

There may be a way to heat a greenhouse with one of these.
You have to fire it up though. A bother.

http://www.ernieanderica.info/rocketstoves