Vanilla Extracts
Mexican vanilla is made from Vanilla planifolia (now
sometimes called fragrans) plant stock indigenous to Mexico. It is a
very smooth, creamy, spicy vanilla. It's especially good in desserts
made without heat or with a short cooking time. Dark chocolate, cream
desserts, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, ethnic foods, wild
game, poultry or meat, all benefit from Mexican vanilla.
Bourbon vanilla is a generic term for Vanilla
planifolia, the vanilla most of us are familiar with as it's the most
commonly used variety in extracts. Vanilla planifolia stock originated
in Mexico, vanilla's birthplace, but cuttings were taken to other
tropical countries beginning in the 1700s. In the 1800s, the French
developed large plantations on Reunion, known then as the Ile de
Bourbon, which is how the name Bourbon came into being.
Bourbon and Mexican vanillas have the familiar natural vanillin
flavor that we associate with vanilla ice cream and other
vanilla-flavored desserts and beverages.
Indonesian vanilla Depending on how Indonesian
vanilla is cured and dried, it can be much like Bourbon vanilla, or it
can have very distinctive differences. Some growers harvest their beans
too early and use a short-term curing process that give the vanilla a
more woody, phenolic flavor. As the early harvest keeps the beans from
fully developing their flavor profile, it can be harsher and not as
flavorful. It's important to note that not all Indonesian vanilla is
harvested too early; premium grade Indonesian vanilla is excellent.
Frequently Indonesian vanilla is blended with Bourbon vanilla to
create a signature flavor. Indonesian vanilla tends to hold up well in
high heat, so anything slow-baked or exposed to high heat (i.e. cookies),
benefits from Indonesian vanilla. Indonesian vanilla is also quite good
with chocolate as its flavor overides the sweetness of chocolate and
gives it a beneficial flavor-boost. Chocolate's popularity is due, in
part, from the sparkle it receives from other flavors as it tends to be
somewhat dull on its own.
Tahitian vanilla
(Vanilla tahitensis) comes from
planifolia stock that was taken to Tahiti. Somehow it mutated, possibly
in the wild. It is now classified as a separate species as it's
considerably different in appearance and flavor from Bourbon vanilla. It
is similar, however, to Vanilla Pompona, a variety of vanilla rarely
used commercially, but that has religious and cultural significance with
the Totonacas of Mexico, the first cultivators of vanilla. They consider
Pompona the queen of vanilla, and she is always planted in a prominent
place wherever they grow vanilla.
Tahitian vanilla is sweeter and fruitier and has less natural
vanillin than Bourbon and Mexican vanilla. Instead, it contains
heliotropin (anis aldehyde), which is unique to its species. This gives
it a more cherry-like, licorice, or raisiny taste. It has a very floral
fragrance, the bean is fatter and moister than Bourbon vanilla, and
contains fewer seeds inside its pod. Tahitian is especially nice in
fruit compotes and desserts, as well as in sauces for poultry, seafood
and wild game.
Because vanilla is a very labor-intensive agricultural product,
vanilla is expensive.
Tahitian vanilla has always been more expensive
than Mexican and Bourbon vanillas. This is especially true now as it is
less readily available.
Next page 2 - Vanilla oleoresin
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