Is Real Vanilla actually worth it?

📚 Videos & Sources mentioned:

USEFUL KITCHEN GEAR

⏱ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Is real Vanilla actually worth it?
1:50 Why do we add Vanilla to food in the first place?
5:57 Experiment #1: Frosting
11:29 How do aroma molecules work?
15:03 Experiment #2: Pancakes
21:53 Why are vanilla beans turned into vanilla extract?
24:42 Experiment #3: Chocolate Chip Cookies
29:23 Conclusions

MISC. DETAILS
Music: Provided by Epidemic Sound
Filmed on: Sony a6600 & Sony A7C
Voice recorded on Shure MV7
Edited in: Premiere Pro

Affiliate Disclosure:

[eraldway]

We did a vanilla test in culinary school. Using Cookies, cakes and creme pastries. Cookies and cakes people preferred artificial vanilla with vanillin powder. Real vanilla extract or artificial vanilla extract would get lost in these applications. When it comes to custards, real vanilla won all the time with its complex flavour but if you used too much, it gave the custards a bit of alcohol flavour. So the best way is to have a mixture of both. If a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, cut that amount down to 1/2 tps and add 1/4 teaspoon of vanillin powder.

[marcberm]

Next, I want some tangible data on what bay leaves do.

[Ureroll]

I was a pastry chef at the FourSeasons in Milan and we would carefully scrape the beans and add the seeds directly to the pastry cream. Mostly to show the costumers we were using real beans. The scraped left overs were boiled in milk and squeezed. That milk was delicious and we would use it for whatever was needed. We were using also a brand of butter that came with Vanilla scent but no traces of dots in it and we would use that for croissants and pain au chocolat that we were doing from scratch ( also delicious). I LOVE VANILLA <3

[DustinHaning]

Vanilla being synonymous with "boring" is one of the greatest injustices of our time. It's a truly unique and wonderful ingredient, thoroughly enjoyed this!

[allisonbuettner]

Sorry babe, I can’t talk to you right now, I’m watching a grown man blindfold himself and sniff pancakes alone in his kitchen

Forreal though, thanks for this thorough experiment!

[kiransingh]

I live for these ingredient deep dives he's been doing.

[Girlbrush.Threepwood]

My parents have been making homemade vanilla with beans in a small bottle of spiced rum. I am now doing it now myself. It tastes like home to me.

[dinkaboutit]

I think the thing that's important to remember about vanilla is that it's a very volatile, "fragile" molecule (vanillin). If you're making a pastry cream or an ice cream base that's going to simmer gently for a few minutes, of course a vanilla bean or vanilla paste is your best option. If your making a Bundt cake that's going to be in a 350° oven for 75 minutes, the extra pungency of immitation vanilla (which would make pastry cream taste like a decorative candle) might be just the thing.

[snackymcgoo]

If you've ever seen an otter reach for a treat or a marble, that's what Ethan looks like pawing at his samples while blindfolded.

[Sparkman]

Very surprised you didn't also include something like a custard or ice cream in your tests. In my experience, especially making a custard, the bean is the way to go.

[dylani]

People usually only buy real vanilla beans when making custards and maybe ice cream, I can’t believe those didn’t get tested

[wembleyford]

I used to cook with vanilla pods (beans) a lot till six or seven years ago when the global price of them sky-rocketted to more or less where they are now (they used to be 5-10 times cheaper). One thing that's great to do with them after you've used them, is to keep them in your sugar jar - even after the seeds have been removed for cooking with the empty case can still impart a lot of aromatics into the sugar.

[ilyafarfell]

To use the real vanilla beans properly, you would infuse your butter or your cream with vanilla before using the butter or the cream in the recipe. The smell and taste would be much stronger, and it would be a legit candidate in the tests!

PS. By infusing, I mean cooking the vanilla bean inside the heavy cream for a little bit with the seeds extracted and the pod inside.

[deline_fin]

To make french crème brûlée, we cut the bean in half, scrape out the seeds and put them into the hot cream, then add the bean pod to the liquid to make an infusion. So we don't get the flavor only from the little black grains, but also from the bean pod. It makes a huge difference in such a recipe where the vanilla is the star of the show.

Then I reuse the empty pod to prepare myself a hot beverage before discarding it 😛

[ostclanadventures]

Two problems: I LOVE these btw, keep them up!

When you made the icing, you needed to use the fresh bean. I bet it was lost in the baking process but probably would have shined in the uncooked catégorie
2) you add the EXACT SAME AMOUNTS! Different products need differing amounts. Maybe you couldn’t taste it well as it was too little or even to much. In the cookie and pancake, more vanilla powder was probably needed to make the flavor better. My friend lived in Madagascar for years, a great home baker, still buys pods in bulk form friends there, but swears by vanilla powder, just have to use a little more.

And wish you had clarified that in the real vanilla extract from the Mexican Vanilla obviously tasted better in the pancake than in the icing it must have been to strong ‘raw’, but that same strength made it shine in the pancake when the alcohol cooked off, I would guess.

From your biggest expat fan in Burundi, Africa! 🙌

[syd]

As a pastry chef I thoroughly enjoyed this in depth testing, discussion and overview of Vanilla. Definitely an important ingredient when baking. And it’s great to know which one to use in which scenario and when to use it. For sure want more of these detailed ingredient breakdown vids in ‘23!

[LessthanGoodGaming]

I am a hobby ice cream maker, and a few years ago I switched from using imitation vanilla to powdered vanilla. Boy let me tell you the insane difference that made! I didn't even know that vanilla ice cream could taste so good!

[emilittleteapot]

The cookie taste test had me ROLLING. "Smells like a cookie" plus the cat-like attempt to find the 'palette cleansing' Rambler XD

[stephendeese]

This channel is excellent. Such clear and useful answers to some of the most practical questions in cooking.

[pelewads]

My grandmother was a huge baker. And she swore by Mexican vanilla. She said it did better under heat.