What You Need to Know About Vanilla Flavoring

!±8± What You Need to Know About Vanilla Flavoring

As many of us may be aware, Vanilla is the fruit of an orchid plant that commonly grows to reach the shape of a bean pod. Vanilla orchids are widely grown in tropic climates. The dark brown vanilla bean is usually 7 to 9 inches long, weighs about 5 grams, and yields about 1/2 teaspoon of seeds. It is said that one-quarter teaspoon should be enough to flavor a recipe for 4 to 5 people. Vanilla is used not in pastries, desserts, and baked goods and sea foods. It is also a popular ingredient for coffees, perfumes, cigars and pipe tobaccos.

Vanilla extract has been widely in use for more than a hundred years and they were originally strong and sweet and were primarily used to cure stomach upsets. Now Vanilla extracts are commercially available in convenience stores, supermarkets, fancy gourmet shops, and even online. Along with Vanilla extracts, additional products are also available - natural vanilla flavor, cookie vanilla, imitation vanilla, vanilla blend, double-fold vanilla, vanilla paste, vanilla powder, etc.

You will obviously be confused which product to buy and your preference may have to be what your family traditionally used for vanilla flavoring, the taste to which all your family members are accustomed.

It is interesting to know there are about 150 varieties of vanilla, though only two are most widely in demand--Bourbon and Tahitian. Vanilla extract is made by percolating chopped vanilla beans with ethyl alcohol and water. The process is usually kept cool to avoid excessive flavor loss. The extraction process takes about 48 hours after which the extracts will mellow in the tanks with the beans for a few weeks before being filtered into a holding tank where the amber-colored liquid extract remains till bottled.

The extract may also contain sugar, corn syrup, caramel, colors, or stabilizers. All additives must be specified on the bottle label when marketing commercially. As vanilla is naturally sweet, it isn't necessary to use additional sweeteners, though some companies use a small percentage of sugar as a stabilizer.

Vanilla extracts made with premium beans and little or no sugar offer a fresh clean flavor. Though these extracts may be expensive, the flavor is truly pleasant. Vanilla naturally ages by the time it goes from factory to your shelf. Some companies hold the extracts in their manufacturing area for up to a year to make certain the extract is well aged before they ship it out.

Vanilla extracts can be kept indefinitely as long as they are stored in a cool dark place such as a pantry or cupboard that is far removed from the stove or bright sun. Refrigeration is however not recommended.

People who prefer not to use an alcohol-based extract can substitute natural vanilla flavor available in specialty food stores and some supermarkets. Vanilla flavor is a mixture of pure vanilla extract and synthetic substances, most commonly, synthetic vanillin. There are a couple of common brands that contain a blend of natural and synthetic vanillas. If you are accustomed to a natural/synthetic blend, then this may taste very familiar to you and you will like it more than a pure extract.

You also have imitation vanilla that is a mixture made from synthetic substances, which imitate part of natural vanilla smell and flavor. The imitation vanilla is less expensive and affordable to many.

There are several varieties of vanilla powders commercially available in the market. Some are made from sucrose that has been ribbon-sprayed with vanilla extract, and others are a dextrose-vanilla extract mix. They are ideal for mixing with beverages if you want a slightly sweet addition that dissolves quickly. Please be careful because many of the vanilla powders from Europe are actually synthetic. You have to check the ingredients list to satisfy it is natural and not artificial.