Please check out full details and many unique recipes at Garrett’s Table!
Subscribe to a great mailing list – get recipes and photos directly to your inbox!
From Garrett’s Table:
"The flavor of vanilla is hard to describe. It’s dark, robust, fruity, and absolutely unique. Vanilla beans owe their flavor to a very long and labor intensive fermenting process and a special flavor compound called vanillin. The “vanilla” flavor most Americans know is actually not vanilla but vanillin extracts derived from guaiacol or lignin, which are wood pulp byproducts of the paper processing industry. Doesn’t sound very tasty to me. Real vanilla beans are the fruit of the vanilla genus of orchid native to mexico. Bitter, green tasting, and nearly inedible when picked, the green vanilla beans are meticulously picked and laid carefully on woolen cloth to bake under the hot sun. At night, workers roll up the sacks and the beans begin their fermenting process. This process is repeated day by day and, once dark, the beans are dried for several months where chemical reactions finish creating the dark and robust vanilla flavor. The entire process can take up to a year. It certainly justifies the hefty price tag on whole vanilla beans and forces you to savor and admire the incredible flavor unique to whole beans.
To use a fresh vanilla bean carefully split it in half lenthwise using a sharp paring knife. This will expose the dense and dark filling of seeds. Using the back of the knife, scrape the seeds from the pod and use them to flavor your vanilla ice cream (and to add those nice black flecks).
Of course you’re then left with the question of what to do with the bean’s hull. It’s probably not very nice to chew on but you paid top dollar for that tiny bean. There are two common practices which are equally delicious. The first is to make vanilla sugar. To do this simply pour some sugar into an air tight container, a mason jar for example, and bury the bean in the sugar. Allow the bean’s flavor to permeate the sugar and add more beans as you use them. Vanilla sugar is great used to sweeten your coffee or tea or used in your favorite baked good.
The other option is to start your own vanilla extract. True vanilla extract is grain alcohol that has been steeped with vanilla bean scraps. As it turns out, the vanillin is extremely soluble in alcohol and the result is an intense vanilla liquid. For this application I used Vodka. Simple place your used vanilla beans into a bottle of vodka and allow to steep for a few weeks or up to a year. For this picture I used a whole vanilla bean but I’ve been chopping up the beans I’ve added since to extract the flavors more quickly. Instead of waiting a year, use the extract as needed and add more vanilla and vodka as the weeks pass. The vodka will turn a dark brown and smell richly of vanilla. The best part about this extract is that you can use it to flavor your cookies and you’re cocktails without feeling the unpleasant burn of grain alcohol.
Whether you make vanilla sugar or extract, please don’t throw away those beans!"
Posted by kern.justin on 2009-06-17 17:01:48
Tagged: , kern.justin , Nikon , D700 , www.garrettkern.com , homemade , vanilla , extract , vodka , beans , vanillin
