Why does vanilla have alcohol

Within a week or two your extract will smell far more mellow. Author Recent Posts. Follow me. Patricia Rain. Patricia Rain is an author, educator, culinary historian, and owner of The Vanilla Company www. She also does culinary presentations for food professionals, cooking schools, trade shows, food fairs, and private groups, and is a regular radio and TV guest.

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Over 5, subscribers! Sign up here. Why do our customers love Rain's Choice vanilla? Thank you for supporting The Vanilla Company and our farmers! Newsletter Signup. However, the vanilla extract contains other flavor compounds that amount to over Madagascar, Mexican, Indonesian, Tahitian and Ugandan — these are the leading vanilla bean types used for making vanilla extract.

Having high concentrations of vanillin is the reason why they are better than the rest. However, the extract may not be that flavorful. Most baking recipes require the use of vanilla extract. This is true for making cakes, cupcakes, brownies and cookies. Some desserts also call for the use of vanilla extract. Some examples are ice creams, custards and puddings. But aside from vanilla extract, you may also come across vanilla in other forms.

When it comes to baking, vanilla extract reigns supreme. It can make your baked creation taste awesome but without taking up lots of time. However, many are worried about the fact that it contains ethyl alcohol. Vanilla extract has alcohol for two reasons. First, alcohol is great at getting vanillin and other flavor compounds from vanilla beans. Second, alcohol is a preservative. Alcohol is a good preservative that vanilla extract has an indefinite shelf life.

The type of alcohol in vanilla extract is ethyl alcohol. It is the same alcohol found in alcoholic drinks such as whiskey, brandy and beer. Ethyl alcohol is so effective at extracting compounds that it is also being used for making some types of essential oils. Plant materials such as petals, leaves and seeds are mixed with ethyl alcohol to release their oil content. This is why some essential oils are flammable.

Needless to say, vanilla extract is flammable , too. Make sure that you keep vanilla extract away from hot surfaces, sparks, and open flames. Otherwise, your house might burn down. However, as a baking ingredient, there is no need to worry. However, if you want nothing but the best-tasting baked masterpiece, use vanilla extract before its use-by date arrives.

Drinking four to five ounces of vanilla extract is enough to make a person drunk. They include brandy and vodka. However, it is unlikely for you to get drunk from eating a slice of cake or a couple of cookies with vanilla extract. Earlier, it was mentioned that vanilla extract is flammable because it contains ethyl alcohol.

As a matter of fact, ethyl alcohol in vanilla extract dries up faster than the water content of the rest of the baking ingredients. So, in other words, it is unlikely for you to get from a baked treat with vanilla extract alcohol enough to leave you drunk. The good news is that a lot of baked goodies with vanilla extract are baked at temperatures higher than the temperature needed to make ethyl alcohol in vanilla extract go away.

Just take a look at this table…. Before it got out of the oven, the majority of the ethyl alcohol in the vanilla extract would have evaporated. Based on the table above, many popular baked products need to be cooked at temperatures higher than the temperature needed to make ethyl alcohol in vanilla extract go away. However, it is a different matter if you add vanilla extract to something that does not require cooking — ethyl alcohol remains intact.

The takeaway: Removing alcohol from vanilla extract is as simple as baking the dough that contains it.

What you purchased is imitation vanilla with unknown additional chemicals. The wisest thing to do is to toss it and write it off as a common mistake. Best to purchase pure vanilla in the US where there are rules and standards. Not only would they not be tasty, they have small, sharp, fibers that cut fingers and hands and can cause a rash as well.

They need to go through a very different process in order to bring up their flavor and fragrance, and this process includes drying the beans. Although it had a vanilla taste, it also tasted watery.

I decided to just purchase a bottle of pure vanilla at Costco as I needed it immediately, and noticed it too listed water in the ingredients? Does your vanilla also include water? Your friend brought you back imitation vanilla.

The Mexican vanilla industry is dying and the price of vanilla beans is so high that no one is making pure vanilla extract in large volume.

Ignore the label. In Mexico label laws for vanilla are not enforced and anyone can write whatever they choose. As per the vanilla you purchased, in the US there are regulations for pure vanilla extract.

Due to the way vanilla is made commercially the water is necessary as a percolation process is used. So, in answer to your question, yes, our pure vanilla extracts contain water. Because of that vanilla ages in the same way that liquor ages, and becomes smoother and more mellow. As long as it is kept in cool, dark, cupboard, it will be fine for several years. Longer than that, it may slowly lose its flavor.

Hopefully it will be long gone by then and another bottle will be in its place. Hello Patrick, I have a question about vanilla. The hard I try. I use for instance vanilla suger, 5 little bags on a gram cake, but i get no vanilla taste. I once also put in the expensive Jacob hooy, vanilla powder, but no taste at all. When I go to other people I get this perfect vanille sense in the air and in the cake. Could you tell me how to get it for myself? Do I need to prepare the vanilla first?

Thank you for answering, have a nice evening, Thirza Linger. Thirza, most of the packets are not made with pure vanilla.

It is synthetic vanillin. The most effective way to make vanilla sugar is to buy a few vanilla beans, cut them open to expose the seeds, and put them in a kilo of castor sugar white sugar.

Let them rest in the sugar for a few weeks, and your sugar will become very fragrant. You can then fragrance more sugar with the same few beans. Leave one in the first batch of sugar; use the others for several more times, or use the beans for making custards or vanilla syrup, rinse or wipe them off, and use them in your sugar. If I use them, I rinse them off and dry them, then put them in my sugar container.

They are usually small — I cut the beans in half first, then into the sugar. Question: When making your own vanilla extract, how does the percent of alcohol affect the chemical process?

Dave, Commercially made extracts are made entirely differently from homemade extracts. A ml bottle of vodka, rum or brandy and 20 beans sliced lengthwise but not fully split in half will make an excellent extract in two-to-three months. No need for a higher proof. What it sounds like to me is that coumarin is in the ingredients. Coumarin adds a distinctively nice aroma but is very bitter.

I am quite an admirer first off…my??? I have made some from Taihitian beans that almost has a thickness to it.

It smells fine but is just different from any other batchs I have made. I am pristine in my techniques and very high alcohol content. Any info?? Again …afan…so your ideas mean so much!!!! It is a blend of Vanilla planifolia and Vanilla odorata, a wild species of vanilla also from Mexico. It arrived in Tahiti in the s via the Philippines and was then hybridized further. It is lower in natural vanillin, but higher in floral and fruity flavor components.

It also has far fewer seeds and more pulp, which is what you are noticing. My suggestion is when you are ready to use it, strain the liquid through a few layers of cheesecloth as that will remove the excess pulp. And thank you for your thoughtful comments! Hi I read that vanilla extract was healthy. So how do you take vanilla safely without ingesting alcohol? I just wanted to flavour my warm milk.

Hi Josette. This is the Standard of Identity for pure vanilla extract in the United States. The alcohol is the best solvent for extracting the flavor from the vanilla beans and for maintaining the integrity of the extract. The amount of alcohol that you would consume to flavor your warm milk is minimal as you would use a teaspoon or so in a large cup.

However, if you are avoiding any contact with alcohol, then yes, absolutely use a piece of a vanilla bean to fragrance and flavor warm milk. You can use the vanilla bean piece more than once. Simply rinse it and wipe it dry. You can also put the piece in your sugar to create vanilla sugar. It will last well and for a long time in the sugar.

If you go to our store landing page, you will see a link to Vanilla Enchantment. Chef Stephen sells our products in small volume. I hope this will be of help to you. Patricia, VQ. Your email address will not be published.

The flavor makes all of my baking so much better! I will never use grocery store vanilla again! I'm amazed at how superior your vanilla is! Is there a vanilla liqueur? A type of vanilla liqueur cognac a member of the brandy family is Navan Natural Vanilla Liqueur.

It is manufactured by Grand Marnier, a high-end manufacturer of cognac. Grand Marnier uses natural vanilla beans, not extract, giving Navan a smooth and spicy vanilla flavor. How much vanilla does it take to get drunk? Why does vanilla extract taste like alcohol? Although the alcohol smell is strong in the bottle the vanilla flavor is much more concentrated, once you dilute it in something else the alcohol should be unnoticeable.

It's more expensive than extract and doesn't mix as quickly, but it's less alcohol-y and has great flavor. Can you get a buzz from vanilla extract? Household Intoxication: Vanilla Extract. If you could get past the very intense taste, a minor could get drunk legally using vanilla extract. And because when you drink vanilla extract, you would only smell of yummy vanilla, thus removing the scent of alcohol if you are trying to hide the fact that you are drinking.

Is vanilla addictive? Vanilla is an Addictive Stimulant. Vanilla is often associated with plain, boring and ordinary; however, vanilla is anything but vanilla.