I recently tried my hand at making ice cream with mixed results. Since my preferred flavor is French Vanilla, that is what I chose to start. It came out very creamy, but was not as strongly vanilla tasting as I would have liked. Why did my vanilla not taste as strong as it should? This prompted me to do some research.
There are 3 main sources of vanilla flavor:
- Vanilla Beans - Obviously the best source, but at roughly 8 ro 12 dollars a bean, not in the budget for half a gallon of ice cream.
- Real Vanilla Extract - Extracted from vanilla beans and seemingly the obvious choice for the budget minded quality ice cream maker.
- Imitation Vanilla Extract - Primarily vanillin, typically a by product of the paper industry. This is the vanilla most of us are familiar with and has a much higher amount of “vanilla flavor” than other sources.
I used real vanilla extract. I used 25% more than my recipe called for. I got a really creamy ice cream with a faint flavor of vanilla. I was not a happy camper.
Time to hit the internet. Apparently those of use who have been eaten artificial vanilla all our lives find real vanilla less flavorful. But wait! How can that be ? I have been eating vanilla ice cream with visible beans all my life!
Yes, those black specks may be real vanilla beans, but are what are termed “exhausted vanilla beans”. Meaning the flavor has already been extracted - they are just there for show.
The bottom line is that if you want a strong vanilla flavor - stick to imitation vanilla extract. It has a lot more vanillin than pure extract. Pure vanilla is a complex taste with over 250 organic compounds, but contains far less vanillin than imitation extract. And for most of us, that vanillin is what we associate with the word vanilla.
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