Vanilla or chocolate? A common question in the world of desserts and one that pits two very similar ingredients against each other. Despite the modern-day insinuation that chocolate is more exciting than vanilla, both contain hundreds of flavor compounds that are unique to where they are cultivated, making either choice just as exciting as the other.
Better yet, combine them and enjoy the symphony of flavors.
Creative cooks have been doing that for hundreds of years and it is still commonly done today.
The first people to use vanilla were the Totonac people on the east central coast of Mexico about 1,000 years ago. But the Aztecs were the first to unite chocolate and vanilla in their cacao drink, called xocolatl. Then European colonists arrived. Because their palates enjoyed bitter cacao best when spiked with the sweetness of vanilla, when they brought cacao back to Europe they also brought vanilla. The combination spread through Europe but the enticing scent of vanilla alone was particularly embraced by the booming perfume industry. This was the beginning of the separation between the two, for sadly the besties did not stay together as vanilla started finding a home in other sweets.
In England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, her apothecary, Hugh Morgan, suggested vanilla should be added to desserts. A century later at the court of Louis XIV, Thomas Jefferson enjoyed vanilla ice cream so much that he wrote down the recipe and the popularity of the cold treat started to melt into the upper class of the early United States.
The global demand for vanilla would soon be impossible to meet because of the limitations involved with growing vanilla. The Bean Belt, spanning roughly 20° north and south of the equator, is where coffee, cacao and vanilla will fruit. Ironically, none of these plants produce actual beans. The vanilla orchid was originally planted anywhere it would grow best, notably inTahiti, Madagascar and Mexico. There are three distinct species of vanilla: V. planifolia is the original and the plant we are most familiar with; V. tahitensis is a variety in Tahiti that is the favorite of many pastry chefs for its larger pod size and more floral aroma; and the newest is V. pompona from South America with pods that can grow up to 12 inches long.
The white vanilla flowers bloom for only a few hours one day a year and must be pollinated by a Melipona bee or a hummingbird because the flower cannot self pollinate. If successful, in nine months there will be ripened green-bean-looking pods hanging off the vine. These are picked and boiled to halt overripening, then laid in the sun to dry and wrapped up at night to sweat, a process that takes three to six months to concentrate the vanilla flavor. They are then aged for two years to further develop their flavor and complexity.
That’s what vanilla has been doing for thousands of years in recipes around the globe: harmonizing flavors and adding depth.
As demand for vanilla grew, orchids from Mexico were planted in Réunion Island, part of the Ile de Bourbon, named after the Bourbon royal family in France. A free slave named Edmond Albius, just 12 at the time, discovered a way to hand-pollinate the orchids with a small stick and wrist flick. This method is still used today, and it was a singular technique that began the mass commercialism of vanilla. In fact, 80% of the world’s vanilla production is now done in Madagascar and Réunion.
Today we have pods, extract, paste, sugar, powder—so many vanilla options! But what do they all mean and when should we use which? Vanilla pods can be split lengthwise and the beans scraped out. And if the split pod was already used, it can be cleaned, dried, and placed into a container of sugar. The flavor of the dried pod will infuse the sugar and create vanilla sugar, which is great to use in cookies or coffee. Or after drying the split pod, you can use a spice grinder to create vanilla powder, which works in frostings and baked goods. Vanilla paste combines vanilla beans in sugar syrup. This is ideal when you want to see specks of vanilla bean in your final product.
The most common form of vanilla is the kitchen staple: vanilla extract. According to the FDA, there must be 13.5% vanilla product and 35% alcohol to create real vanilla extract. Popular choices for the alcohol are vodka (if you want the vanilla to be the star) or bourbon, brandy or rum if a more robust flavor is desired. However, if you see Bourbon Vanilla, it actually refers to the Ile de Bourbon where the vanilla was grown and not the alcohol used to make the extract. When buying vanilla extract, make sure it’s real. With the high demand for the ingredient in modern baking, artificial vanillin extracts started to appear on the market at cheaper rates. Real vanilla has hundreds of flavor compounds that make up the final taste, thanks to where they are grown, what species of vanilla they are and the drying process. Artificial vanillin is created from pine bark and only comprises the singular flavor note of vanillin.
After learning all about vanilla, it is time to look at our modern-
day baking recipes and try to figure out why vanilla extract is used in almost all of them. Take the chocolate chip cookie (not mine, get your own!). Fudgy and fruity chocolate chips are the main flavor, encased in a bready or chewy sugar cookie. Vanilla is sweet like the dough and a little fruity like the chocolate, harmonizing the flavors to create one perfect cookie. That’s what vanilla has been doing for thousands of years in recipes around the globe: harmonizing flavors and adding depth. Of course, everyone has different taste buds and prefers different flavors, so all of this is subjective to the taster. But if you are curious to test your own palate, check out the Neapolitan sablé cookie recipe and taste for yourself the importance of being vanilla.
