On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 18:09:02 GMT
"Diane L. Schirf" > wrote:

> In article <20050424105216.686e18a8@wafer>,
> Eric Jorgensen > wrote:
>
> > 1: It's only 80% of what you taste in real vanilla, the more subtle
> > notes are lost. I suspect that many of the factories using it use too
> > much of it.
>
> I don't have a subtle palate, and I can taste fake vanilla without
> effort. When I was volunteering at a zoo and we'd let kids sniff vanilla
> beans to sniff (product of the rain forest), few kids recognised it as
> what's in ice cream, unless they were used to the Good Stuff.


Yup. There are a bunch of trace flavor compounds in real vanilla.
Vanillin is just the foremost and most recognizable.


> > 2: It's very very cheap. It literally costs about $100/ton if you
> > purchase it dry at the factory. This means that there's no incentive in
> > the job. I'm convinced they're sloppy with it, and there are defects in
> > the synthesis.
>
> Real vanilla has become pretty pricey. A small bottle, enough to make
> only a few batches of cookies, is $8+. But I'm sticking to it.


The production of vanilla from orchids is very weather sensitive and
labor intensive. If they have a bad year in mexico or madagascar or any of
the other major centers, the price goes way up for a couple years.

Some people like to go to mexico and buy mexican vanilla by the quart.
You can do that, and it can be very good, and a really good deal, but make
sure you buy from a reputable seller and a reputable brand - sometimes the
cheap stuff is cut with coumarin - which smells like vanilla turned up to
11 but tastes slightly bitter, and is a slightly toxic, hemorrhagic agent.

Commercially imported mexican vanilla is inspected by the FDA and hasn't
been found to be corrupted with coumarin in decades, but in bad years the
street vendors in mexico may not be selling the genuine article.