In which I expose my culinary ignorance once more

[stephbg]

Back in 2007, I confessed to the world my ignorance of truffles. Well, it gets better. Tonight I write of something we all take for granted: vanilla.



I've always been a fan of vanilla as a flavour, and thought nothing of the biscuit and cake recipes of my youth that required a splash of real imitation vanilla essence. Not being much of a dessert-maker I haven't really given vanilla much thought since then. Happy to eat vanilla-flavoured things, I eventually became educated about The Real Thing, but really had no reason to investigate myself.

Until now. Hello unflavoured soy milk.

And very quickly: goodbye unflavoured soy milk >;-X

The Rules of Beige permit 2 drops of vanilla per day, so I bought some proper vanilla essence. With great expectations I cracked the seal on the tiny bottle and took a whiff, but was struck by a wall of alcoholic fumes.

When I regained consciousness, I wondered if it was just me, or if I scored a bad bottle. Subsequent experiments using this dangerous stuff in soy milk and silky tofu resulted in a palette I can only describe as mediciny.

}8-P

I bought some imitation vanilla essence. It smelled and tasted much nicer. It worked quite well in soy milk. But what of the much vaunted superiority of The Real Thing? I couldn't give up. Perhaps I was simply unnaturally sensitive to the alcohol used in the extract. It was I! I was at fault!

*dramatic flailing gesture*

(OK, yes, I've been reading New Ceres Nights and have a bit of an 18th Century dramatic vibe going on. Sue me. Oh, you can't, creative commons. Haha!)

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen...

Actually, the supermarket. I bought a vanilla bean. It was so expensive it *had* to be good. Back at the bat kitchen I cracked the seal with great expectation only to be confronted once again by the smell of alcohol. Not as bad as the bottle of essence, and this at least had a distinct hint of vanilla about it, but not nearly as nice as the fake stuff.

*facepalm*

With grim determination I placed a tiny scraping of the inside bit of the bean in some soy milk and let it sit for a bit. At the tasting I could at least detect a vanilla flavour, but since I'm not game to steep or simmer the stuff as I know it should be, I'm just wasting everyone's time.

Perhaps I could make my own alcohol-free vanilla essence by boiling up some sugar and water and adding the bean at some point? The boiling part would do away with the alcohol in the extract, I imagine, but would the heat destroy the vanilla flavour? Boil, cool, add bean, reheat? Make a reduced sugar syrup first and then add the bean? Or add the bean at the start?



Technical advice, anyone?

Comments

[catundra.livejournal.com]

Try this from kathrynlinge: http://baconbaconblog.com/wordpress/slowfood/vanilla-extract

[redbraids.livejournal.com]

I have had good lucky with the vanilla paste that they have just come out with. It is expensive, so you are welcome to borrow my jar to try if you wish?

[transcendancing.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[catundra.livejournal.com]

Sorry, posted too soon. As a starting point I mean. She used alcohol but has various links mentioned and may herself be a source of info...

[kremmen.livejournal.com]

I don't know if Australia has any standards for it, but the US FDA requires at least 35% alcohol in vanilla essence, so they probably follow that here too. It's only a little short of vodka, so the wall of alcoholic fumes is normal. (I find it yummy, sometimes pouring a little over vanilla ice cream.)

I've read that alcohol is the best agent for extracting the vanilla flavour, so, if you want to avoid it, maybe just stick with the imitation vanilla essence?

[alias_sqbr]

You know I'm pretty sure fake vanilla essence contains more alcohol than the real stuff :) Either way I boil anything I add it to, but that's to get rid of the alcohol not the flavour and it still tastes somewhat vanilla-y.

Why not make vanilla sugar?

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Maybe make vanilla sugar and add a bit of that? To make vanilla sugar just bung the pod into the jar of sugar and let it sit around for a month or so before using.

[rdmasters.livejournal.com]

I'll add my voice here. Vanilla sugar sounds very much like the way to go, plus it is a very economical use of the bean.

Which, given the existence of a plant virus that is threatening the major vanilla production areas, is a good thing.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

I was lucky enough to get 2 beans from Kakulas at something like $1 each. I was just going to get one, but at the price I figured I may as well get two. I haven't used either yet!

[girliejones.livejournal.com]

*dramatic flailing gesture*

(OK, yes, I've been reading New Ceres Nights and have a bit of an 18th Century dramatic vibe going on. Sue me. Oh, you can't, creative commons. Haha!)

Awesome!