Vanilla Beans - Gourmet Food

Vanilla bean is the most available authentic and natural form of gourmet vanilla. These dried, cured pods of the vanilla orchid are difficult to find and costly to purchase, but their fresh aroma and intense flavor makes them irreplaceable to gourmets and connoisseurs. Though there are many species of vanilla orchids are available throughout the world, only three major cultivars are used to make vanilla products and all three were derived from the vanilla planifolia orchid.

Where vanilla beans come from is the key factor in deciding their flavor, aroma, and many other characteristics. Mexican, Madagascar and Tahitian vanillas all offer their own variations on the vanilla theme, but even plants of the same species are grown as little as a few miles apart may differ significantly from each other. Bourbon-Madagascar beans are renowned for their powerful aroma, intense and rich flavor. The beans are long and slender with a thick, resilient, oily skin, and the pods has a large number of potent vanilla seeds.

Mexican vanilla beans look very similar to Bourbon beans, and Mexican bean pods have an abundance amount of vanilla seeds. The flavor of Mexican vanilla is creamier, smoother and more mellow, and their aroma is spicy and sweet. Tahitian beans are short and plump, with thin skins. They are rich in oil content, but fewer seeds are Bourbon or Mexican beans. Tahitian beans flavor and aroma are sets them apart with strong fruity and floral notes.

Each type of vanilla has a distinct flavor whether it's from Madagascar, Tahiti or Mexico. Each one is a little bit different, so it is quite good to try out the different types and see which on. The rich, aromatic taste of Mexican vanilla is an awesome treat. The bean pods from Mexican orchid plants are considered to have a higher concentration of flavor, when comparing with other types of vanilla beans. Mexican vanilla extract is also prepared with a lower concentration of alcohol. Both these factors are combining to give the extract a smooth, deep, rich taste which makes it so popular.

High quality vanilla beans are smooth and oily to the touch. Cracking and Extreme dryness are a bad sign. Buy vanilla beans from a reputable merchant such as Olivenation. Don't forget, high quality vanilla beans aren't cheap, so if you find a merchant who offering a large amount of beans at a very low cost there's almost certainly something amiss. 

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