vanilla flavoring

[Mama Mangia]

Greg -

One bean (not split) per bottle of 80-proof vodka (and not a large bottle either!) will give you a lighter vanilla flavoring in 30 days.

By placing a couple of beans (split) in a bottle of 80-proof vodka you will get a stronger vanilla flavor in 30 days.

Just place in a cool dry place - like your pantry.

A friend of mine will split 3 beans and place them in a bottle of vodka. When she gets down to about half the bottle, she adds more vodka. She keeps vanilla beans going for years. I won't do it that way - after a while they lose their flavor. But then again - I bake much more than she does.

Vanilla beans are quite pricey but I still prefer to do it myself.

If you are planning on doing baking for the holidays - I would make it now - then you would be all set for fall and winter baking.

[DevilsCharm]

Why does it take 9 months? Does it need to ferment or something, like wine? I've never heard of that 9 months thing, except for producing babies.

[Raquelita]

I only use genuine vanilla extract - it's way better than imitation.

[expatgirl]

I totally agree with going with the real thing!!!!!

[Worker Bee]

That's a good question Peach. Oddly enough I recently went on a wild goose chase to hunt down pure vanilla extract with no sugar added. I'd originally thought that all pure vanilla extract was merely booze and vanilla bean. I was wrong and it took my quite a while to find it sans sugar. One of my daughters is on a special diet and can only ingest honey or natural sugars.

But I digress! I have always found the pure as opposed to the flavouring to have more depth of flavour.

[peacherina]

Oh I never knew that you can get it without sugar.

[muslgrl]

I use the real thing it has a much better flavor

[spiceplace]

Originally Posted by DevilsCharm

Why does it take 9 months? Does it need to ferment or something, like wine? I've never heard of that 9 months thing, except for producing babies.

Vanilla takes about 9 months to make, starting with pollination of the flower on the vanilla vine. Each flower only lasts a single day, and the flowers are hand pollinated to make sure each produces a vanilla bean. After the vanilla beans grow and mature, they are harvested. At this point they have no flavor at all, and must be processed through a 3 to 4 month long drying and curing process to create the vanilla flavor we all know.

After the curing process, the vanilla beans are soaked in vats of alcohol for a few days to weeks depending on the manufacturer. The best vanilla brands age their vanilla extract for several months before shipping to retailers.

That whole process takes about 9 months. In 2003 a typhoon destroyed the vanilla crop in Madagascar, which is the worlds largest producer of vanilla beans. The result was a huge price increase of pure vanilla extract that lasted about 1 year until the full growing and production cycle of vanilla was repeated.

[cinnamon]

The "New Coke" change in the early 1990's was about switching from pure vanilla to vanillen (imitation vanilla). The phenomenal flop of New Coke should answer the question of whether there is a difference in pure vanilla and imitation vanilla.

[deelip]

I dont know more about vanilla flavoring.
But i like the flavor.
I specially like vanilla falvor ice cream.