Plain ol’ vanilla
So, when did this word became equated with boring mediocrity? Poor vanilla, so maligned…
Once upon a time, I felt that bananas had been given a bad rap and now I think vanilla needs to be added to the list of victimes. Vanilla was ‘one of the many items of cuisine first encountered by the Spanish upon meeting with the Aztecs and subsequently introduced into Europe,’ or so says Wikipedia. It must have been exciting back then, enough to entice the Spaniards to carry it all the way back to Spain. They even gave it its name-vainilla meaning ‘little pod’.
The one thing for which I need to thank Martha Stewart, North-American-Domestic-Diva, is a recipe for making vanilla. No need for high priced extracts. No settling for imitation flavouring.
Simply slice three or four vanilla pods lengthwise. With flat side of knife, scrape out all the little micro-seeds (but save them for later). Put pods into a bottle of vodka and let set until you have a beautiful amber colour. Want a darker colour? Add more pods.
And the seeds you’ve saved? Mix into some finely granulated sugar, such as caster sugar, for use in baking. It seems to add an additional lovely aroma to baked goods. The weekend’s fare included home baked brownies.
vanilla - yummeeh!! I always put a used and dried-off vanilla pod from making dessert into caster sugar… tastes nice. in germany you can buy ready-made sugar like that. at first it was only artificial stuff, called vanillin, but quite cheap - like the artificial extract you can buy… then the real thing came on the market, but of course it left those tiny black spots in whipped cream etc. I distinctly remember having the mother of my ex invited for coffee and cake… and she complained that there was dirt in my whipped cream:)) of course she always thought of her cooking as marvellous - and if she didn’t know an ingredient - it couldn’t possibly exist! so she didn’t believe my “real vanilla sugar” - and refused to eat cream at my house for years after:)) good think really that my MIL is so much nicer now:))
but you shouldn’t really put pix like that online - or your readers will start drooling soon:))
16 Apr 2007 at 9:09 pm
I love vanilla.. perfect timing, my pure vanilla stash from Mexico is dwindling!
16 Apr 2007 at 10:49 pm
Ooh that looks tasty. It’s funny, actually, because I work in software, and it’s quite common that when there are multiple versions of an application, or multiple paths through some part of one.. the most basic, plain route or version is considered ‘vanilla’. I think it’s probably because it’s generally associated with plain, unadulterated white, but that’s also a bit odd considering it’s really not! And when you have something particularly good made REAL vanilla there’s all these little specks of brown and a nice off white color. Don’t get me wrong, I am more of a chocolate fan, but I do think perhaps vanilla gets a bad rap
17 Apr 2007 at 1:22 am
I’ve been looking for a reason to buy some vodka in one of those pretty bottles at Trader Joe’s, plus they have vanilla pods there too. Now I have the perfect excuse for both!
Thanks for the Gromit pics! How nice to have a little cheer-me-up gift from so far away.
17 Apr 2007 at 3:03 am
Yup, Im a vanilla addict too. If I’m faced with a choice of icecreams, vanilla always wins.
17 Apr 2007 at 8:00 am
Don’t laugh, always buy the vanilla scented yankee candles…theres something very soothing about the scent of them….always put pods in my caster sugar.
17 Apr 2007 at 11:09 am
What a great idea, thanks! I use vodka for all my herbal medicinal tinctures, but I like this idea too. I love vanilla, but please don’t ask me to make a choice between it and chocolate.
17 Apr 2007 at 12:39 pm
What a brilliant idea - making your own extract! I love the flavour and scent of vanilla.
17 Apr 2007 at 12:58 pm
I am actually much more of a vanilla fan than chocolate. I know - what can I say?!?
Real honest-to-goodness creme brule’. I am so all over it.
17 Apr 2007 at 4:48 pm
Vanilla is known for making things taste more like themselves. So, a “plain vanilla” anything would be something truly itself. It’s strange, because when you think about it, vanilla isn’t supposed to be the flavor in anything, but to merely play the background, to subtly enhance whatever it is.
Except for sugar, of course.
Those “seeds” are not only little seeds, but are vanillin crystals. Vanillin is the main (but not sole) flavor element in vanilla pods, and can be extracted from wood as well - hence the “artificial” flavor which really isn’t artificial at all, but simply not from the pod.
The one drawback to making your own vanilla sugar: pouring directly into the coffee from the sugar container sometimes results in a spent vanilla pod floating about in the cup.
Love the pictures.
17 Apr 2007 at 5:13 pm
No wonder you have 10 comments already on this posting!! I’m not a bit surprised. What with banana, vodka, vanilla and the ‘piece de resistance’ the chocolate brownie and raspberries, cream and chocolate sauce. My mouth is watering, Oh for one of those brownies - sigh,sigh,sigh. Yum Yum and delicious. Must make some.
Ger
17 Apr 2007 at 9:25 pm
awesome tip! I want to try that.
18 Apr 2007 at 4:40 pm
Oh I died and came to heaven! I can eat, vicariously, the most scrumptious food on your blog! Yummmm.
I always have a vanilla pod in my caster sugar, old habits are hard to shake.
Lovely cabling, and likely to be needed as Ireland rarely has warm weather for very long.
21 Apr 2007 at 5:58 pm