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Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Ingredient Basics: Vanilla
Posted by Brian Ries on Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 5:18 PM
For the first time in years, I dragged out my ice cream maker with plans to introduce my son to the glories of homemade frozen treats. But as soon as we hit the supermarket for the necessary supplies, I was confronted with something that made me put the kibosh on our epic gourmet dessert: vanilla beans are $5! Each!
No sense shelling out $10 in ingredients for a quart of ice cream -- homemade or no -- so I settled for vanilla extract. The result? Well, the four-year old was pleased, but me ... not so much.
After the break, I'll give you the lowdown on why vanilla is so expensive, cost-saving tactics that won't sacrifice quality, a recipe for Vanilla Sugar, as well as the usual buying/storing/using advice:
- Vanilla is the seed pod from an orchid (the only orchid that bears edible fruit). Orchids are fragile, demanding plants -- this one needs to be hand-pollinated on the one day a year the blossoms open. Pods are hand-picked and take a year to mature and cure before being ready for market. You can see why it's pricy.
- The main varieties are Madagascar, Tahitian and Mexican -- although Madagascar beans are what you'll see most of the time, and are usually the most reliable in terms of classic vanilla flavor.
- Vanilla extract is made by macerating beans in alcohol and water to extract the flavor; the resulting solution is aged.
- Imitation vanilla is a nasty blend of chemicals that -- honestly -- isn't worth the cost-savings, although most mooks won't be able to tell the difference when used in small amounts in flavorful dishes.
- Store beans in a cool, dry space and they'll keep for a year or more. If the beans dry out, just soak them in liquid (preferably the custard you're using them in) and they'll rehydrate. Don't store beans in the refrigerator, because the sugars will crystallize.
- Since properly stored vanilla lasts a long time, buy in bulk from mail-order services (Penzey's has 3 beans for $7.25, or 15 for $28.50). All that vanilla staring at you every day is good incentive to get cooking.
Vanilla Sugar
(adapted from Alton Brown)
1 vanilla bean
2 cups granulated sugar
Slice bean lengthwise and scrape seeds into sugar. Chop bean into chunks and mix into sugar. Place sugar in airtight container for several weeks. Use it for anything that you want to give the punch of vanilla (it's great in iced coffee). You can use vanilla sugar in the place of vanilla extract, but you'll have to experiment to get the right punch of flavor, depending on the potency of the sugar.
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