Mexican vanilla is a little bolder and slightly smoky, while Tahitian vanilla is more delicate and floral. Madagascar accounts for roughly 80 percent of the world’s supply today, so that’s probably the “traditional” flavor you’re most used to, says Shauna Sever, author of the cookbook Pure Vanilla: Irresistible Recipes and Essential Techniques. There’s also vanilla pompona, found in the West Indies, Central America, and South America and vanilla tahitensis, local to French Polynesia and New Guinea, whose backstory is something of a botanical mystery.ĭo different vanillas have different flavors? The most commonly used vanilla orchid for culinary purposes is vanilla planifolia, native to Mexico, and grown across the Caribbean, northern South America, Central America, and Madagascar. In a truly neat trick of nature, vanilla pods (the long, thin, stick-like thing you sometimes see sold individually in a tube) are the fruit of a stunning flower known as the vanilla orchid, which is the only orchid to bear edible fruit. With those questions in mind, we spoke to a panel of experts (including pastry chefs and the author of a vanilla-centric cookbook) to help demystify the wide, wonderful world of vanilla. With vanilla bean pods, extracts, pastes, sugars, and salts out there, how do you know which version to shop for? Why are some vanillas so much more expensive than others? And how do you make sure you’re not wasting any of the precious stuff if you do invest in a pricier option? And it’s a luxury good in its own right, the result of a wildly time- and labor-intensive harvest that must be done almost entirely by hand.īut for such a frequently used ingredient, vanilla and its subsets can be confusing to understand. Vanilla is, of course, integral to countless pastries and desserts, adding a sense of familiarity to everything from ice cream to sugar cookies. “It’s an essential ingredient, adding not just flavor, but also body and soul into a dish,” says Francis Ang, a San Francisco-based pastry chef and owner of the pop-up Pinoy Heritage. In truth, the essence of vanilla is anything but plain. But vanilla as an ingredient is a wondrous thing, ambrosial, floral, warm, and sophisticated. Vanilla, as a concept, suffers a bad rep: The word alone implies something safe at best, and boring at worst.
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