About Vanilla Beans

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About Vanilla Beans

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1 Info file

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Information,
Vanilla




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 Information from the 1996 Old Farmer's Almanac, "What You Can Eat To


 Achieve True Peace of Mind", by Ken Haedrich


 


 The vanilla orchid is a member of the plant family known as Orchidaceae and


 is the only orchid that produces edible fruit.  The beans grow on a thick


 vine that flourishes in warm, moist climates within 25 degrees of the


 equator.  The vanilla plant begins to bear fruit when it is three or four


 years old.  Eight to nine months after pollination, the beans are golden


 yellow and ready for harvest and curing.


 


 It takes about five to six pounds of green, freshly picked vanilla beans to


 make one pound of properly cured beans.  There are basically two ways to


 cure the beans:  in the sun or over a fire.  Using the solar method, beans


 are spread in the hot sun by day and wrapped in blankets and placed in


 wooden boxes by night.  The sweating process is repeated over and over for


 six months, until the beans have lost up to 80 percent of their moisture


 content.  This method produces superior results and is used in Madascar,


 Mexico, the former Bourbon Islands, Tonga, and Tahiti.


 


 The wood-fire curing method, used in Indonesia and Bali, takes only two or


 three weeks, but produces a dry, brittle bean with a smoky flavor,


 generally considered inferior.


 


 When you buy a vanilla bean at your market, the black, oily, smooth pod


 you're buying is a cured bean.  When you purchase a bottle of pure vanilla


 extract, you're buying beans whose flavor components have been dissolved in


 a solution of water and alcohol.  By law, pure vanilla extract must contain


 at least 35 percent alcohol by volume. Anything less is labeled a flavor.


 Pure vanilla extracts come in a variety of folds, or strengths. The Food


 and Drug Administration has established that a fold of vanilla is the


 extractive matter of 13.35 ounces of vanilla beans to a gallon of liquid.


 Strong, pure extracts, such as four-fold, are primarily used in mass food


 production.


 


 What about imitation vanilla? ~----------------------------


 


 Not only is pure vanilla expensive, but demand also far exceeds the world's


 supply of the real thing.  Stepping in to fill the void is the chemist, who


 has come up with a variety of imitations made from synthetic vanillin, the


 organic component that gives vanilla its distinctive flavor and fragrance.


 Most synthetic vanillin is a byproduct of the paper industry, made by


 cooking and treating wood-pulp effluent. But since vanillin is only one of


 more than 150 flavor and fragrance compounds found in pure vanilla, the


 chemist has yet to match the subtlety with which Mother Nature has endowed


 the real thing.


 


 How to tell a good bean when you see one.


 ~----------------------------------------


 


 Quality is key.  To truly experience all the flavor and fragrance vanilla


 has to offer, you have to seek out quality beans and extracts. Generally


 speaking, look for beans that are supple and aromatic. Tahitian beans are


 moister and relatively short and plump, with thin skins and a floral aroma.


 Bourbon beans (so called because they originate in Madagascar, Reunion, and


 the Comoros, formerly known as the Bourbon Islands) are slightly dryer,


 contain more natural vanillin, and have thick skins (the flavor has nothing


 to do with bourbon whiskey.) Stay away from dry, brittle, or smoky-smelling


 beans.  Depending upon quality and variety, single vanilla beans retail


 from about $1.50 to $10 apiece.  Vanilla beans should be kept at room


 temperature in an airtight container.  Don't refrigerate them or they may


 develop mold.  Vanilla beans last up to two years.


 


 Especially if you cook with it often, it is more economical to buy pure


 vanilla extract by the pint, or even the quart, and share it with a friend.


 The best pure extracts contain no caramel and artificial color and little


 or no sugar.  Store extract at room temperature, tightly closed. It will


 keep up to five years.


 Posted to MM-Recipes Digest V3 #313


 


 Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 00:32:43 GMT


 


 From: netdir@cyberspc.mb.ca (S.Pickell)