Madagascar Vanilla Beans- The Chef's Favourite

 

All over the world, the Vanilla from Madagascar, which has high vanillin content, is popularly used in almost every commercial kitchen. The Madagascar Vanilla Beans are considered as the best of all vanilla beans. These beans are popular throughout the world for their flavor and quality. Actually, they are not real beans, instead they are the fruit or seed pod of the orchid species, vanilla planifolia.

Why Are Madagascan Beans Considered The Best

Madagascar Vanilla Beans are regarded as the ultimate vanilla because of its unique flavor profile. Although all the types of vanilla have a common basic taste, there is quite a bit of difference between the beans that are grown in different regions. Vanilla which is grown in Madagascar is valued for its flavour, which is sweet and creamy, which is not equivalent to any other beans grown in any other country. It has a unique taste. Moreover, it’s flavour lingers in the mouth, and this feature allows it to be easily used in different dishes with some other powerful flavours too, that would overwhelm the less strong vanillas.

What Do They Taste Like?

Even though it’s flavour is familiar to almost all, it’s taste is quite challenging to describe. It's one of the most complex spice flavors found on earth, which makes it almost impossible to describe properly. This is the reason that makes a high-quality vanilla bean so special. It gives a mixed flavour of floral, sweet and earthy taste, along with the undertone of dried dark fruits, oak and leather all together at the same time. It’s leading flavor is due to the presence of an organic compound called vanillin, that delivers a mixture of sweet, warm, and creamy flavours. Higher concentrations of vanillin can be found in Madagascar Vanilla Beans as compared to beans from other countries. Thus, the beans of Madagascar are so richly flavoured, which makes them the most demanding type of bean in the world. You can find almost more than 250 other compounds found in the vanilla beans, which convey nuanced spicy, floral, and fruity flavours.

The real ones do not contain any artificial flavours. The ones which are artificial contain a vanilla flavouring which is made from synthesized vanillin and are frequently extracted from the pulp of wood. Since the artificial one does not include any other organic compounds, you will understand once you taste it, as it gives a flat flavour in comparison to pure vanilla. Vanilla extracts which are pure are capable of capturing the rich flavours of vanilla, but there is something more intense and intriguing about the flavor that a whole vanilla bean can give.

Why are they expensive?

It requires intensive labour to grow, pollinate, harvest and process the vanilla. This is one of the reasons which have inflated the cost of these beans and made them a bit expensive. Moreover, the event of 2017, when cyclones struck the island, decimated that year’s vanilla cropping whose impact is still can be seen. With severe reduction in supply, prices jumped up, and this set off a chain of reaction which eventually led to the current price tags that we see today. Another cause of the general price hike  in vanilla is due to its increasing demand. In recent years, people all around the world have become conscious of their demand for natural, premium ingredients has spiked. Due to such a growing demand for higher-quality ingredients, a number of consumers as well as the businesses who deal in food supply have switched over from artificial vanilla flavourings to real vanilla beans.

How to use them

To use Madagascar Vanilla Beans, with a sharp knife slice open the beans lengthwise. With the knife’s spine, you can scrape out the inner seeds called vanilla caviar and can add them to cake batter, cookie dough, frosting, syrups or sauces. The scooped-out pod can also be infused into a bottle of spirits or can be placed into a jar of sugar for a week or so and it will turn your normal sugar to vanilla sugar.