Vanilla extract

Flavour and aroma

sweet, creamy, floral, woody. Sweet, rounded, slightly woody; bitter neat.

Heat

No heat

Forms

extract, whole, paste

How to use it

• infuse · Simmering technique

  Split a pod lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, and steep both pod and seeds in warm (not boiling) milk or cream, covered, for 15–30 minutes. Rinse and dry the pod to reuse or bury in sugar.

• use raw

  Add extract after cooking or near the end where possible (custards off the heat, cake batters after creaming); the alcohol and aroma evaporate with long heating.

• Cakes, cookies and custards
• Ice cream and panna cotta
• Whipped cream and frostings
• Hot chocolate, milkshakes and syrups
• Poaching fruit (pods)

Identifying good quality

Pods are long (15–20 cm), dark brown to black, supple and slightly oily, with a strong sweet smell; dry, brittle pods are old. Pure extract lists vanilla beans and alcohol; 'vanilla flavouring' or 'essence' is usually synthetic vanillin.

Origin and history

Origin: Southeastern Mexico and Central America (Vanilla planifolia).. Grown and used: Madagascar produces most of the world's vanilla, followed by Indonesia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Uganda and other tropical countries; used worldwide in sweets and baking..

The Totonac people of Veracruz cultivated vanilla, and the Aztecs used it to flavour cacao drinks, which is how the Spanish encountered it in the 16th century. Outside Mexico the orchid could not set fruit without its natural pollinators until 1841, when Edmond Albius, a 12-year-old enslaved boy on Réunion, developed the hand-pollination method still used today. Synthetic vanillin now supplies most vanilla flavouring.

Well documented

In masalas, pastes and sauces

• Homemade dulce de lecheSauce4.3 g per batch
• Chocolate sauceSauce
• Crème anglaiseSauce
• Butterscotch sauceSauce