Vanilla–The  Real  Thing  And  Ways  To  Process  &  Use  It!    

To make real vanilla extract, you’ll need vanilla beans. Madagascan Vanilla beans are top tier
with the most desirable position in many professional kitchens, bakeries and confectionaries
throughout the world.

The Beans

Vanilla beans are sold as whole pods and packed with very small, very dark brown, glistening
seeds. Fresh Grade ‘A’ beans will look smoother with more plumpness. Their aroma is deep,
characteristically flavored and highly scented. The beans should not be too skinny, or dried out.

A Sharp knife and Scrape the Seeds Out…

The seeds are what you see speckled throughout your store-bought ice cream. That is, if you’re
lucky enough to find real vanilla in your ice cream! Those seeds are what you’re going to find
inside your vanilla beans. To get to them, you’ll be releasing a massive amount of flavor-filled
seeds. Expect to see the tiny brown specks on your fingers when handling vanilla beans. And the
vanilla aroma from real beans is as nice as it gets!

Slice the (vanilla bean/pod) in half lengthwise. Scrape the pod from top to bottom in one
direction. The seeds will usually pile up on the end of your knife (scraper). You can now add the
seeds directly to icings, cake, cookies, and coffee, pancake batter; anywhere you’d like the
hypnotically sweet flavor of vanilla.

Whole Vanilla Bean Pod vs. Vanilla Extract Amounts

Figure on using the seeds of at least 2 inches of a scraped vanilla bean to equal 1 to 2 teaspoons of
vanilla extract. Now, flavor is not always an exact science in home cooking, so I’m sure you’ll
want to use your own taste buds to your liking in your recipes. But that’s what makes cooking
your own food so exciting! It’ll be your secret, but we certainly hope you share!