Vanilla

[iheartmaytag]

You could call me a Vanilla snob

Mexican as apposed to Madagascar vanilla or other exotics is not so much the vanilla flavor, but like a good wine the secondary elements.   Sometimes I wonder if the flavors are introduced through the extract media.  Such as the Madagascar vanilla through King Arthur is percolated with Bourbon where as some of the other extracts us Vodka or other absolute alcohol.   King Arthur's vanilla has a floral essence to it that could be associated with a good bourbon.

 

I get most of my vanilla now from a local supplier The Spice Merchant.  They make their own extract, and it is double strength, so truly you use half until you are sure in your recipe.  To get a really good vanilla flavor without the secondary flavors bean paste is very good if you don't want to mess with scraping the beans yourself, however, it is more costly than the imitation flavors at the grocery.

 

 

 P.S.  I may have mentioned this before, but The Spice Merchant is housed in the original Mentholatum building.  Also my favorite place to buy coffee and tea, and of course, spices.

 

http://www.thespicemerchant.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi

 

[launderess]

Either real vanilla whole beans or paste. Both are streets ahead of the stuff with alcohol you find in supermarkets.

Made the switch years ago when seriously got into baking. You can taste and smell the difference both while mixing, baking and final product.

For the record both also make for excellent hot chocolate and anything else made from scratch at home that requires vanilla flavor.