Nothing soothes like scent of vanilla

Flavoring has gotten a bad rap. There's nothing bland about it.

By ANNE GILLESPIE LEWIS, Special to the Star Tribune

Last update: May 7, 2008 - 3:16 PM

Do you think vanilla is plain? Think again. Vanilla, probably the world's favorite flavoring, is both comforting and sophisticated, soothing and seductive.

Close your eyes and you're back in the kitchen after school, with the scent of vanilla mingling with other baking smells, waiting impatiently for cookies to come out of the oven.

Open your eyes and you could be on the big island of Hawaii, in Hawaiian Vanilla's sunny tearoom, swooning over each spoonful of the velvety ice cream flecked with tiny dark vanilla seeds.

Still think vanilla is plain?

How about all those upscale perfumes and cosmetics that employ vanilla to work their magic? Its ubiquity and versatility, however, don't come cheap. Producing vanilla, whether the cured bean or extract, is labor-intensive and, as a result, expensive.

It all begins with the pale green flowers on an orchid plant. Each flower blooms just a few hours during a single day.

Usually pollinated by hand, when there aren't the right kind of bees handy, the flower then develops a slender seedpod. These beans undergo a long -- up to six months --curing process before being marketed as whole beans, pure vanilla extract (which must contain at least 35 percent alcohol), natural (sometimes called pure) vanilla flavoring (which contains less alcohol) or powdered vanilla, made from powdered beans. Imitation vanilla products -- surprise, surprise -- contain no real vanilla.

The vanilla orchid was first cultivated in Mexico and is now also grown elsewhere, principally the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

Vanilla was introduced to Europe in the 16th century and Queen Elizabeth I reportedly was wild about it. Thomas Jefferson developed a taste for it when he was ambassador to France. His recipe for vanilla ice cream is at www.monticello.org.

Vanilla is the original recyclable bean. The whole (or half) pod can be used and reused, even after its seeds have been scraped out to flavor a dish. Pop the empty bean in a container of sugar and let it sit for a week or so to flavor the sugar. Once you've used up the flavored sugar, add more sugar and flavor again. Continue until all the flavor is squeezed out. (Need a more exact recipe? Add one or two vanilla beans to a pound of granulated sugar -- about 21/4cups. Keep in a tightly sealed container for a week or two, and you'll have vanilla sugar.)

A wide variety of vanilla products -- including double-strength vanilla and beans from several sources -- are available by mail as well as in local supermarkets and such specialty stores as Penzey's Spices, 3028 Hennepin Av. in Minneapolis and 674 Grand Av. in St. Paul.

Anne Gillespie Lewis is a Minneapolis writer.