There is no one right way - the most common is just to split the pod in half lengthwise with a sharp knife and use the tip of said knife to scrape the tiny beans out - but Martinez has a trick she prefers. The recipe I’m using says to scrape the vanilla seeds out of the pod. To store vanilla beans, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container (such as a jar) in a cool, dark place for up to six months. If it’s all shriveled up, it shows there aren’t a lot of beans inside.” “I don’t recommend buying pods from big-box grocery stores, because they’re usually dry, thin, and frail - those aren’t worth your money. “You can tell if a vanilla bean is really good based on how thick and plump it is - it should almost look a little moist,” says Miller Union pastry chef and Eater Young Gun Claudia Martinez. How do I know if I’m getting a good one?īrands such as Nielsen-Massey, Heilala, Beanilla, the Vanilla Queen, and Burlap & Barrel are generally reliable. Okay, so let’s say I do shell out for a vanilla bean pod. On top of that, there’s the COVID-19 pandemic while it remains to be seen how it will affect the price of vanilla, it probably won’t help matters. As the price of vanilla has increased, it has made vanilla in Madagascar the target of thieves, who have attacked and killed farmers for their valuable vanilla crops. On top of all that, global vanilla prices have soared in recent years, due in part to increased demand, decreased supply, and a series of natural disasters in growing regions like Madagascar. First, the pods must be cured, then wrapped in little blankets and dried, a three-to-six-month process during which they ferment and shrink down by 400 percent. They still don’t resemble the fragrant, shiny brown-black stems you see in stores. It takes the pods another eight to nine months to mature, and then they must be hand-picked while green. To start with, the vanilla orchids only open one day a year, and they must be hand-pollinated because this particular flower has only one natural pollinator - the Melipona bee, which is native to Central America. “It’s an incredibly long process that can’t be rushed,” Sever says. In short, because vanilla harvesting is a time- and labor-intensive endeavor that defies automation. Some purveyors, like Burlap & Barrel, sell pods from other places, such as Tanzania and the Peruvian Amazon. Mexican vanilla is a little bolder and slightly smoky, while Tahitian vanilla is more delicate and floral. Madagascar accounts for roughly 80 percent of the world’s supply today, so that’s probably the “traditional” flavor you’re most used to, says Shauna Sever, author of the cookbook Pure Vanilla: Irresistible Recipes and Essential Techniques. There’s also vanilla pompona, found in the West Indies, Central America, and South America and vanilla tahitensis, local to French Polynesia and New Guinea, whose backstory is something of a botanical mystery.ĭo different vanillas have different flavors? The most commonly used vanilla orchid for culinary purposes is vanilla planifolia, native to Mexico, and grown across the Caribbean, northern South America, Central America, and Madagascar. In a truly neat trick of nature, vanilla pods (the long, thin, stick-like thing you sometimes see sold individually in a tube) are the fruit of a stunning flower known as the vanilla orchid, which is the only orchid to bear edible fruit. With those questions in mind, we spoke to a panel of experts (including pastry chefs and the author of a vanilla-centric cookbook) to help demystify the wide, wonderful world of vanilla. With vanilla bean pods, extracts, pastes, sugars, and salts out there, how do you know which version to shop for? Why are some vanillas so much more expensive than others? And how do you make sure you’re not wasting any of the precious stuff if you do invest in a pricier option? And it’s a luxury good in its own right, the result of a wildly time- and labor-intensive harvest that must be done almost entirely by hand.īut for such a frequently used ingredient, vanilla and its subsets can be confusing to understand. Vanilla is, of course, integral to countless pastries and desserts, adding a sense of familiarity to everything from ice cream to sugar cookies. “It’s an essential ingredient, adding not just flavor, but also body and soul into a dish,” says Francis Ang, a San Francisco-based pastry chef and owner of the pop-up Pinoy Heritage. In truth, the essence of vanilla is anything but plain. But vanilla as an ingredient is a wondrous thing, ambrosial, floral, warm, and sophisticated. Vanilla, as a concept, suffers a bad rep: The word alone implies something safe at best, and boring at worst.
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