Friday 14 September 2012

Vanilla bean cheesecake - Pure Vanilla Extract

Vanilla beans are quite expensive, retailing in some of the specialty shops for just $2-3 for each. The price of pure vanilla extract is also obviously very high, but generally varies due to the high quality of the vanilla beans which is used. 

Pure vanilla extract should also have absolutely no sugar added to it and will also last forever, aging just like the fine liquor. Beware of the cheap "pure" vanilla bean extract. If the bargain seems like to be too good to be totally true, it is probably an sure adulterated vanilla extract. 

In order to meet the prescribed FDA standards, pure vanilla bean extract must definitely contain at least 13.35 ounces of vanilla beans extracts per gallon during the extraction and 35 percentage of alcohol.

Imitation Vanilla: Imitation cheap vanilla is made out from artificial flavorings, most of which actually comes from the wood byproducts and very often contains only chemicals.

Discerning palates also find the imitation vanilla extract products to have a very harsh quality with a utter bitter aftertaste. Twice as much fake imitation vanilla extract flavoring is required to match the whole strength of the pure vanilla extract.

Vanilla Flavoring: Vanilla bean flavoring is usually a great combination of lot of imitation vanilla and also pure vanilla extracts.

Vanilla bean extract is very widely used for flavoring, baking and also cooking purposes. The vanilla bean extract is the second most expensive of all the spice in the whole world next to the famous saffron. The benefits from vanilla extract are also found in the 100% pure vanilla products, so when ever buying vanilla extract, make very sure that it is even labeled as "100% pure." Imitation and cheap vanilla flavoring extracts are made with either a synthetic vanilla or a whole mixture combined with 100% pure vanilla extracts.

Healthy Substitution: Vanilla bean extract can also be used as a very healthy substitution for white sugar in many baking and cooking recipes. To reduce the total amount of white sugar, the Mayo Clinic also recommends the addition of some spices or those flavorings such as vanilla bean extract or the almond flavoring to enhance the sweetness of the food. This will also reduce the total amount of calories and thus also creates a much healthier alternative.

Contains Vitamins: Vanilla pure extracts contain small amount of vitamin including B-Complex group of vitamins. This group also very commonly also includes thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and vitamin B-6. Vital nutrition and You states that these B-Complex groups of vitamins also help the enzyme synthesis, nervous system functioning and regulating body of metabolism.

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Vanilla beans whole foods - Vanilla as a Spice

Vanilla beans for sale: Vanilla is usually associated with your desserts. Try this unique unusual use of vanilla along with pork and it will change your whole mind. Plan well ahead for marinating gestation time.

Preparation Time Duration: 4 hours, 10 minutes to be precise.
Cooking Time Duration: 30 minutes approximately.
Total Time Taken: Around 4 hours and 40 minutes.

Ingredients:
a. 9 cups hot water.
b. 2 ½ teaspoons of pure vanilla extracts.
c. Half cup of white sugar.
d. Half cup of kosher normal salt.
e. Two tablespoons of cracked black peppercorns.
f. 6 (1 ¼ inches to 1½ inch thicker) center-cut loin pork chops.

Preparation: Stir the mild hot water, vanilla beans, white sugar, and table salt all together until the sugar and salt are totally dissolved. Add some of the black pepper. Cool to below about 45º Fahrenheit inside the refrigerator.

Trim any of the excess external fat from the meat. Submerge the pork in the brine in a very large bowl or even a very small crock. Make very sure the whole meat stays under the surface even during the curing just by using a very heavy plate to weight it down. Refrigerate the pork inside the cure. The chops should also take around 4 to 6 hours inside the brine. To test the flavor of brined pork, just cut in small pieces off the meat, pat it completely dry and pan-fry it. If the soft meat is sufficiently flavorful, remove it out from the brine, let it come to normal room temperature and also grill. If not, leave it in the brine and test it once again later on.
 
Yield: Around 6-8 servings.

Note: You may actually substitute 4 pork tenderloins (1-1¼ pounds of each) or even 1 (4-6 pound of each) piece of boneless pork loin. The tenderloin will also need some 6-8 hours inside the brine and also the loin, 1-2 days. (Bone-in pork can take a day little longer in the brine only because of the bone, which also gives it a much larger diameter.) If marinating for a day or much longer, stir the brine daily and also turn the pork very occasionally. 

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Healthy foods - Vanilla History

Vanilla bean cafe: Vanilla was first discovered in Mexico by the Spanish conquistadors, who had dubbed it vainilla meaning "a very little sheath.” They had brought it to Europe, where it was very quickly adopted. The first ever written mention of the vanilla beans was in the year of 1662, in general reference to an ingredient that is used with the chocolate by the Native Americans. ‘

By the end of the 19th century, the great innovation of ice cream had created a love affair with vanilla flavor.
Vanilla beans were once greatly prized as very highly effective aphrodisiacs. They were so very rare; they were generally used as a great tribute payment to the royalty.

Vanilla is only the fruit of an orchid plant, which normally grows in the form of a bean pod. Vanilla orchids are fully grown up only in tropic climates. The dark brown vanilla bean is usually around 7 to 9 inches long, weighs about only 5 grams each, and yields about just 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla seeds. One-quarter teaspoon should be sufficiently enough to flavor a whole recipe for say 4 to 5 people. Vanilla is used not only in edible desserts, pastries and baked food goods, but is also very excellent with many sea foods. It is a very popular ingredient of perfumes, coffees, pipe tobaccos and cigars.

Botanical Name: Vanilla tahitensis (less flavorful), Vanilla planifolia, and several other names: Vainilla meaning little sheath, Vanillin, vaniglia, vanilla, vanilka, wanila, vanilja, vanilje, vanillia, vanil, vanile, paneli, vanilya

Vanilla Availability Criteria: Dried vanilla bean pods and some bottled vanilla extract is also available full year-round in the spice section of all the supermarkets. Vanilla beans may be kept in locked up (just like the saffron) in some of the markets just because of their very high value. If you don't even see any on the store shelf, ask the store manager.

Vanilla Selection: For vanilla beans, choose a plump bean with a very thin skin to get the most seeds that is possible. Pods should be totally dark brown, almost full black in color, and also pliable enough to wrap all around your finger without ever breaking. For pure vanilla extracts, look for a very high alcohol content in those unadulterated pure vanilla extracts. Synthetics usually have a very little or absolutely no alcohol at all. FDA standards also require vanilla extract must generally contain around 13.35 ounces of vanilla beans per gallon during its extraction and approximately 35 percentage of alcohol.

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Vanilla beans bulk - Pure Vanilla Extract

Vanilla beans are quite expensive, retailing in some of the specialty shops for around $2-3 each. The real price of pure vanilla extract is also very obviously too very high, but also varies due to the quality of the vanilla beans that is used. 

Pure vanilla extract should have absolutely no sugar added to it and will also last forever, aging like the fine liquor. Beware of those cheap "pure" vanilla extracts. If the bargain seems to be too very good to be true, it is probably just an adulterated vanilla extract. 

In order to meet the FDA standards, genuine and pure vanilla extract must definitely contain about 13.35 ounces only of pure vanilla beans per gallon during extraction and about 35 percent pure alcohol.

Imitation Vanilla: Imitation vanilla is only made from artificial flavorings, most of which also come from the wood byproducts and very often contain several chemicals.

Discerning palates find the imitation vanilla bean products to have a very harsh quality with a very bitter aftertaste effects. Twice as much imitation vanilla flavoring is also required to match the great strength of some very pure vanilla extracts.

Vanilla Flavoring: Vanilla flavoring is usually an equal combination of the imitation vanilla and of pure vanilla extract.

Beware Adulterated Vanilla: Most of the adulterated vanilla extract comes by the way of Mexico only, where these extracts from the Tonka bean are also added. 

Tonka beans, a member of the pea family plants, have a very high concentration of coumarin, which has a much stronger vanillin-type aroma, but virtually no flavor at all. This actually makes it very difficult for the average consumer to spot all the fakes. 

Coumarin was totally banned as a edible food ingredient by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the year of 1954 after the tests actually showed liver toxicity in test conducted on animals. Some studies also indicate that coumarin derivatives are an anticoagulant or even a blood thinner. 

Yet, this adulterated impure vanilla extract still makes its easy way into the United States, since there is no testing done by the customs inspectors and the addition of coumarin is not at all illegal in Mexico. Look for very high alcohol content in unadulterated pure vanilla extract, since the synthetics usually have too little or absolutely no alcohol at all.

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Tuesday 4 September 2012

Vanilla beans - Vanilla flavors will enhance Mexican recipes

Vanilla powder: Vanilla will features in many Mexican dessert recipes and beverage recipes. It is an aromatic spice which will come from a special variety of orchid. Vanilla will be coming in different forms, including beans, extract, flavored sugar and powdered vanilla.

This spice will be used to flavor many types of desserts from the famous Mexican flan to cakes, cookies and even hot chocolate. Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron and it is impossible to recreate the unique aroma and flavor of this magical spice. The word itself comes from the Spanish word "vainilla" which means small sheath. This refers to the pod.

Vanilla Come From:

Three quarters of the vanilla in the world will come from the islands of Reunion and Madagascar, which are in the Indian Ocean. These beans are rich, sweet and smooth. The beans grown in Mexico are darker and fatter. A lot of people claim that Mexican vanilla has a richer and nicer taste than the beans grown in the Indian Ocean islands.

 A third variety is Tahitian vanilla and these pods are very fat and very dark. They are very aromatic, so good for making perfume, but not as flavorful as Mexican or Indian Ocean island vanilla.

Mexican Vanilla:

Real Mexican vanilla is quite rare and therefore it is more expensive. It is in the color of amber and translucent. Be careful not to get duped into buying a synthetic Mexican vanilla. The synthetic product will be either totally clear or really murky, neither of which can be confused with natural Mexican vanilla. The real thing is extracted with alcohol, so the alcohol content should be thirty five percent or more. Some synthetic extracts contain either no alcohol or hardly any.

When you are going to make good Mexican desserts, make sure with real extract. When you cannot get Mexican vanilla, it is fine to use another type but do choose real extract over synthetic extract because they are so different. You can compare it to maple syrup. Real maple syrup is delicious and synthetic maple syrup does not even come close.

Recipe for Mexican Vanilla Almond Cookies:

You can use good quality extract in the following cookie recipe for the best results. These cookies are light, tasty and full of flavor. Serve them with a cup of coffee for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up or after dinner as a dessert.

Products needed:
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup unsalted almond
  • 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 sticks butter, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon anise seeds
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Puree the almonds with the butter in a food processor. Add the vanilla and 3/4 cup of the powdered sugar and keep blending. Add the anise seeds and flour and grind until the mixture is well combined.

Rub flour over your hands and shape the mixture into balls. Arrange them on ungreased cookie sheets, about an inch apart, and bake for about eighteen minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown. Let them cool for about fifteen minutes, and then roll them in the remaining powdered sugar.

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Vanilla – The sweet taste of orchids

Vanilla bean cafe: Most of the people will not know about the popular flavoring which is well known as vanilla which comes from orchids. Some of your favorite sweets like ice cream and chocolates will actually attribute their flavoring to these fruitful plants.

Vanilla Planifolia is one of the important species of the orchid family. Unlike most orchids, Vanilla grows vines and bears beans or seedpods, which produce the flavoring vanillin. When the seedpods are picked, they become dark in color and soon become the black pod we are used to seeing in the kitchen. You know the history of this orchid has a darker side to it.

According to the first cultivators of this plant, the Totonac of Mexico will be the birth which will came about from the death of two lovers. The story tells of a goddess who fell in love with a mortal but was forbidden by her father to get married. In protest, they fled to the forest to live their love but were later caught and beheaded. From their blood grew this orchid which is now known as the vanilla orchid. Although its roots will be traced in Mexico and this popular flavoring now finds its home most popularly in Madagascar.

The Bourbon Vanilla is currently most popular and most widely used of all the vanilla types. Indonesia and Mexico will be growing orchids like these but in smaller quantities compared to Madagascar. A lot of food, especially the sweet ones can now thank vanilla for their great flavor. Among these most loved deserts are custards, breads, coffee and even milk. Who would have known that aside from their edible flowers, orchids would be a staple in everyone's kitchen?

Vanilla is the only fruit-bearing plant in the orchid world to have been widely and most commonly used in the kitchen all around the world. hough orchid parts such as petals, bulbs and stems have been utilized as medicinal herbs, the vanilla is the only orchid type to have such fame. A flavoring like this is a sweet reminder that even the most delicate things in the world can be such a feast for the palette. Exotic and mysterious as its beginnings are, vanilla is an orchid to be proud of.

You hear someone calling orchids mere flowers and plants and you can tell about vanilla. Surely this wonderful orchid would shed some sweet light on them.

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Vanilla bean cheesecake - Use vanilla flavor for birthday cake

Vanilla bean: Complicated chocolate cake recipe will be used as a huge success and they will came with the wedding itself. A few months after that there was a baby shower and everyone was either excited or green with envy. Ultimate blessing for a couple united in the sacrament of holy matrimony. Birthday Cake Recipes will be shared with my cousin was simple enough to follow. 

Ingredients:

- Cake flour, 2 cups measured
- Granulated sugar, 1 cup
- Cocoa or chocolate powder, 1/4 cup
- Baking powder, 1 teaspoon
- Fine white salt, 1/2 teaspoon
- 1 whole egg
- Instant decaffeinated coffee, 1 teaspoon
- Vegetable oil, 6 tablespoons
- Vanilla flavor extract, 1 teaspoon
- 1 cup cold water

Method:
-
You need to pre-heat a standard oven to 350°F. Thinly brush canola oil or spray oil on a 9-inch round baking pan. Sift together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix the batter by hand until evenly blended. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake before removing from the pan to a wire rack. Cool completely.

Frosting ingredients:

- 1 cup of cream cheese
- 1/3 cup butter, not melted
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar (sifted)
- food dye for the trim

Method:
  • Beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer while adding butter until smooth. 
  • Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar. 
  • Add the sour cream and vanilla extract and continue beating under medium speed.
  • Set aside about 1/2 cup of frosting for pipe trimmings. 
  • Spread the frosting over the cooled cake. 
  • Add food coloring (a tiny half drop of blue or green for boys and pink or yellow for girls is suggested) to the remaining 1/2 cup of frosting. 
  • Scoop frosting into a pastry bag and trim the top or bottom edge of the cake. 
  • Chill for about 10 minutes before proceeding to decorate. 
  • Have more fun decorating for the cake, but let's not leave out the candle.
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Vanilla powder adds punch taste

Vanilla adds more flavor to desserts, baked goods, puddings, ice cream, and many other foods. Vanilla will be also a hidden ingredient in savory sauces. Pure vanilla extract will be having more flavor than imitation. When you are looking for a flavor punch, use a vanilla bean. Find the beans in the spice aisle of the grocery store. Since they are pricey you want to make the most of them.

Different types of beans in a Vanilla Beans is done by selecting in a Store, and Use. Vanilla bean is the fruit of an orchid, and goes back centuries. The Ztecs used the beans to flavor chocolate drinks. There are three types of beans: Bourbon-Madagascar (the thinnest), Mexican, which has a rich flavor, and Tahitan, which is the thickest.

It is not advised to buy the beans that look dry and shriveled because the flavor will be shriveled, too. Beans should be stored in a dark place to retain their flavor. To use a bean, cut it lengthwise all the way down and scrape out the seeds with a spoon. It is easy to make your own extract, according to Wallis, and you do it by putting two beans in a glass container with a half cup of vodka. Store the extract a week or more before using.

When you have eaten vanilla bean ice cream you are used to seeing the tiny seed specks. Vanilla is favorite flavor, far and above chocolate, and always you can add twice the amount called for in recipes. Make vanilla bean cookies with a bean and pure vanilla extract. They were yummy and especially fresh out of the oven.

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Seeds from 1 vanilla bean
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 3/4 cups regular flour
Method:

In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat a bit more. Add baking soda, salt, vanilla seeds, and extract. Turn mixer to low and slowly add flour, finishing with a wooden spoon. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a nonstick baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minute, or until the cookies are set and the edges start to brown. Cool a few seconds before removing from pan. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

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