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Vanilla sticker shock

pastrygirl

By pastrygirl
in Kitchen Consumer

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pastrygirl

pastrygirl

Posted
Posted

Today I paid $81.62 for a quart of Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract.  It was even more expensive than the 3kg bag of Valrhona Dulcey on my order! 

 

In early June, the same item from the same purveyor was $56.74.  I know price spikes happen every few years with vanilla products but ouch!  O.o:(

 

Just felt like sharing in case anyone wanted to commiserate.  

Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted

Count me in. I know I paid much less than that from one of my go-to places, My Spice Sage, earlier this year. It's currently $84 there. Where did you buy yours?

 

Vanilla beans have gotten much more expensive, too, from what I can recall of my previous purchases.

  • Like 1

Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged.  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

When a clown moves into a palace, he does not become a king. The palace becomes a circus. -Elizabeth Bangs, writer

pastrygirl

pastrygirl

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
28 minutes ago, Alex said:

Count me in. I know I paid much less than that from one of my go-to places, My Spice Sage, earlier this year. It's currently $84 there. Where did you buy yours?

 

Merlino Foods in Seattle.  They are generally super nice and fair so I'm sure it's market price.  I'll have to stop dumping so much of it into my vanilla cupcakes ... or maybe everyone is getting lemon or gingerbread cupcakes this fall instead! 

 

If or when the price goes down, we must remember to stock up  :ph34r:

  • Like 2
JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

A few years ago I purchased a half pound of beans at a good price.  Carefully bagged them up in my chamber vacuum sealer, a few beans to the package.  Hoping to make vanilla extract.  Hoping they're still good.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

keychris

keychris

Posted
Posted

I was at a vanilla farm just last week in far north Queensland (Australia) and they said a few things:

A disease has wiped out a lot of production in one of the main countries, I forget which, sorry!

Weather conditions (in Australia at any rate) have not been conducive to a good crop ( no clear wet and dry season the last year)

Indian markets are buying up large quantities of vanilla at the moment, with a view possibly to controlling the market in the future (expect higher prices)

  • Like 1
Jim D.

Jim D.

Posted
Posted (edited)
11 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

A few years ago I purchased a half pound of beans at a good price.  Carefully bagged them up in my chamber vacuum sealer, a few beans to the package.  Hoping to make vanilla extract.  Hoping they're still good.

 

Depending on what you paid, you could make a tidy profit from that purchase. I found it interesting that Beanilla no longer lists the great variety of vanilla beans they did only a short time ago--no Mexican, no Tahitian, no Indian--but now there is Indonesian and Ugandan, neither of which I remember seeing.

Edited by Jim D. (log)

www.santiagochocolates.com

Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

Posted
Posted

The subtleties of vanilla bean quality, grade AA, A, B or Madagascar vs anywhere else pretty much escape me. That said, I have been buying Madagascar beans on eBay for several years from an operation called Vanilla Products USA. I just checked and yes, their prices are up by a considerable amount. However there are dozens and dozens of options on eBay, and if you can wade through them it seems possible to get quantity and quality and source you like, jarred or vacuum packed, at a price you can live with. Worth checking out.

Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

The subtleties of vanilla bean quality, grade AA, A, B or Madagascar vs anywhere else pretty much escape me. That said, I have been buying Madagascar beans on eBay for several years from an operation called Vanilla Products USA. I just checked and yes, their prices are up by a considerable amount. However there are dozens and dozens of options on eBay, and if you can wade through them it seems possible to get quantity and quality and source you like, jarred or vacuum packed, at a price you can live with. Worth checking out.

 

A week and a half ago I bought a package of five Grade A 5"-6" beans from them, via Amazon, for $22.95; today it's a dollar more. The quality seems fine. I'll be using one of them this weekend and will report on anything out of the ordinary.

Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged.  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

When a clown moves into a palace, he does not become a king. The palace becomes a circus. -Elizabeth Bangs, writer

pastrygirl

pastrygirl

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
19 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

A few years ago I purchased a half pound of beans at a good price.  Carefully bagged them up in my chamber vacuum sealer, a few beans to the package.  Hoping to make vanilla extract.  Hoping they're still good.

 

 

They should still be good.  A half pound is about a year's supply of vanilla beans for me.  I've had some get dry and brittle towards the end of the bag, but still smelled/tasted good. 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Patrick S

Patrick S

Posted
Posted
On 9/19/2017 at 12:24 AM, keychris said:

I was at a vanilla farm just last week in far north Queensland (Australia) and they said a few things:

A disease has wiped out a lot of production in one of the main countries, I forget which, sorry!

Weather conditions (in Australia at any rate) have not been conducive to a good crop ( no clear wet and dry season the last year)

Indian markets are buying up large quantities of vanilla at the moment, with a view possibly to controlling the market in the future (expect higher prices)

 

I think one of the big factors in play right now is decreased production in Madagascar - cyclone Enawo in March put a big hit on their output this year.

  • Like 3

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

  • 4 weeks later...
Porthos

Porthos

Posted
Posted

After sticker shock last night at Costco I knew my fellow eGulleters would have information on the insane jump in vanilla's cost.

  • Like 2

Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

;

JeanneCake

JeanneCake

Posted
Posted

I've had good experiences with Sapna Foods in Atlanta; I use the double fold extract and the vanilla paste and the quality is fine.  The vanilla paste is especially good - no added sugar or anything.  It's so dense that we normally stretch it by adding extract and it lasts use many  months.  This past spring, when we needed more vanilla, I nearly fainted when he quoted me close to  $300 for a gallon of extract.

YetiChocolates

YetiChocolates

Posted
Posted

I just paid $83 for 50 Grade A Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla beans on eBay.  I remember paying $20-$30 for 1/2 lb. of the same quality a couple years ago.  But pricing it out, I'm only paying $1.66 per bean, which compared at $10/bean at the store, so I'll take it.  I guess when it's something you need/want for your operation, you'll bite the bullet and pay for it...

  • Like 1

~ Willow ~

www.yetichocolates.com

  • 3 years later...
SweetSymphonybyM

SweetSymphonybyM

Posted
Posted

Recently received my order from Beanilla - Tahitian Vanilla beans (Tahiti) and Madagascar Organic beans. Glad to report that both were of good quality, plan on purchasing more from them once these are used up. 

  • Like 2
donk79

donk79

Posted
Posted

I've noticed Vanilla extract prices dropping at my local Costco.  I think they are down to $25/pint from $35/ pint a few years ago.  Is this representative of the rest of the market right now?

  • Like 1
Jim D.

Jim D.

Posted
Posted

I have been buying from slofoodsgroup.com recently and have been satisfied with the quality.  The Tahitian ones are especially fat and juicy.  At the moment they have 25 Madagascar beans for $60 ($89 at beanilla.com).

  • Like 3

www.santiagochocolates.com

Douglas K

Douglas K

Posted
Posted

Haven’t seen the slofoodsgroup website. Looks good. I’ve been buying my Vanilla beans and Saffron from Vanilla Saffron Imports saffron.com. Originally it was because of saffron (which is great, and I am pretty particular about saffron), but they used to offer a chefs quality vanilla beans which were shorter and not as even in length as first quality, but just as good. I used to use more vanilla beans when I did more home brewing, and had a popular vanilla porter. Now it’s just a few beans here and there, and I was also surprised at the price increase after my last large (for me) order ran out. Anyhow, I’d be interested in trying out their Uganda vanilla beans with the Ugandan nibs I’ve bought to make chocolate.

 

Little known fact about me. My avatar as I guess you’d call it, or my profile picture is of my dog whose name is Saffron. It’s an important spice to me, and she is more precious than the most expensive spice. She’s over 13 years old now and still totally spunky. I’ll never regret giving her that name, nor adopting her as a pound puppy. She’s the best dog, beautiful, sweet, incredibly smart, and just an all around great friend. I wish she could live forever!

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