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stephbgBack 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?
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?
