Reliable Sources for Vanilla Beans

[Bond Girl]

In my recent determination to cook more at home, I am burning through my supply of vanilla beans (ice cream, cakes and an occasional tart will do that). At $6.00 retail a tube, this is costing me a fortune. Does anyone know of a reputable internet source for vanilla beans? Once I get them in bulk, so I need to store them in any special way?

[andiesenji]

I have purchased vanilla beans from many sources over the years and have been most pleased with the ones from

The Vanilla Company

Their prices, like all vanilla vendors, have gone up in recent weeks but their quality is very good, nice fat, moist beans.

I use all three types, the Tahitian for ice cream, custards and etc. The Mexican for less delicate recipes and for combining with chocolate and the Bourbon for making vanilla extract

(I use Everclear grain alcohol).

Check their "chefs in residence" page.

[GG Mora]

I got very good vanilla beans from Golden Gate. They also have excellent saffron.

I kept my beans tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and rolled/sealed in a Ziploc bag, stored on a pantry shelf. They lasted well for nearly two years; the remaining few beans got dry and hard, but I was able to resuscitate them nicely. Read about my method for bringing them back to life.

An article I read somewhere (Saveur maybe?) discredited the commonly held practice of storing vanilla beans in the refrigerator or freezer.

[Bond Girl]

Thanks guys. I will report back once my order is in.

[andiesenji]

An article I read somewhere (Saveur maybe?) discredited the commonly held practice of storing vanilla beans in the refrigerator or freezer.

Too true! Back in the dark ages, when I was just starting out as a baker, I saw my first vanilla bean when one of our pastry men talked my mom into ordering some rather than use the extract as usual. Lelo (Hungarian) was emphatic about not chilling the vanilla beans because it (in his words) steal-ess zuh assance frum zuh banahs. (We did have a bit of difficulty with communication in the early days and Lelo's teenage son spent a lot of time interpreting.) The other baker was too shy about trying to use English so we became proficient at sign language until he and Lelo got through the adult classes offered at the high school. (My mom sponsored two pastry chefs and their families who were refugees after the Hungarian revolt in 1956.)

Anyway, I believe that refrigeration was not intended for everything and some fruits are ruined by it. I keep my immediate use vanilla beans in glass vials with ground glass stoppers that are in turn inside ziploc bags and keep the extras in the glass vials in vacuum sealed bags. I always have one in one or more of the sugar jars. I also have one (chopped and split to expose the seeds) in brandy and a couple in a double-sealed vial of Everclear. After these have released some of their essense into the liquor, I will strain them out and use them in something else, there will still be a lot of flavor left.

[Phatlouie07]

when making vanilla extract, is there a prefarable vanilla bean(tahitian or bourbon?) and what brand of vodka to use?

[Schneier]

Thanks for the tip on where to buy vanilla beans. The best ones I've ever used were fresh beans I bought home from Tahiti. Unfortunately, I can't do that nearly as often as I would like.

Bruce

[merstar]

I've heard nothing but raves about the vanilla beans from Vanilla International. Many people on the Fine Cooking forum have recommended this company, and call the owner the "Vanilla Man." His beans are supposed to be of the highest quality and very reasonably priced. Here's the link:

http://stores.ebay.com/Vanilla-Internation...genameZl2QQtZkm

[andiesenji]

when making vanilla extract, is there a prefarable vanilla bean(tahitian or bourbon?) and what brand of vodka to use?

I use the Bourbon beans from the Vanilla Company for making extract.

I use Everclear, 95% grain alcohol which extracts much more flavor than even 100 proof vodka. It is not legal to sell in all states but one can buy it and transport it without penalty.

The extract made with this product is far superior to other home made products I have tried and to many commercial products. There is no residual flavor from other sources and more of the complex flavors of the vanilla can be both scented and tasted in the product.

I have been making my own flavorings for many years and have had good success.

If you can't find a source for Everclear near where you live, it is available on the 'net.

Otherwise use the strongest vodka you can get. It makes a world of difference in extracting the flavor.

The only other way to get the full benefit of the extract is to use a distillation process which requires an investment in some relatively inexpensive laboratory glassware.

[cherimoya]

I've heard nothing but raves about the vanilla beans from Vanilla International. Many people on the Fine Cooking forum have recommended this company, and call the owner the "Vanilla Man." His beans are supposed to be of the highest quality and very reasonably priced. Here's the link:

http://stores.ebay.com/Vanilla-Internation...genameZl2QQtZkm

I have been buying vanilla beans from that guy on ebay for a few years now. His service is great and the product is fantastic. It is superior in quality to what you get in most stores and a lot cheaper.

[mklynch]

I ordered 1/4 # of vanilla beans and an ounce of saffron from golden gate as GG Mora recommended. Placed the order on line on Sunday. Today is Wednesday and they are here! The beans look, feel and smell great and the saffron does too. Great tip!

BTW - 1/4 # of beans turned out to be 40 pieces. I didn't count the saffron threads.

[bakerboy]

thought i'd add my 2 cents here. i was recently in mexico in the playa del carmen area and decided to look for some mexican vanilla beans. no luck, lots of extract though. Some looked harmless. Alot said "does not contain coumarin" which is an extract from tonka beans. it tastes like vanilla and some countries allow it as an "extender". it does have anticoagulent properties. The medication called coumadin is given to heart patients as a blood thinner and it is a derivative of coumarin. There were some scarier looking "extracto's" there that were supposidly for medicinal purposes and had ingredients like "agua emulsificada" ....emulsified water ? needless to say, i didn't bother. I went for a nice box of romeo and julietas instead.

[CaliPoutine]

I just ordered a 1/4lb of Tahitian vanilla beans from vanilla beans. I paid 26$, shipping included.

I was amazed at how cheap they are. I did some seaching around and I found another site that sells the same amount for 75$

I'm hoping this wont be a case of caveat emptor.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[Patrick S]

Looks like a damn good deal to me. Let me know if you're happy with what you get.

Not to change the subject, but one thing I never understood is the price differences between vanilla beans and vanilla bean paste. A bottle of Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon bean paste is 4 fluid ozs for $17. Since 1Tb of paste is equal to 1 bean, the 4oz bottle is equivalent to 8 vanilla beans. Yet NM sells 2 beans for like $13, or about $52 for the equivalent of a 4oz bottle of paste.

[CaliPoutine]

Looks like a damn good deal to me. Let me know if you're happy with what you get.

Not to change the subject, but one thing I never understood is the price differences between vanilla beans and vanilla bean paste. A bottle of Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon bean paste is 4 fluid ozs for $17. Since 1Tb of paste is equal to 1 bean, the 4oz bottle is equivalent to 8 vanilla beans. Yet NM sells 2 beans for like $13, or about $52 for the equivalent of a 4oz bottle of paste.

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I bought that paste and Im not that thrilled with it. It just seems weirdly gummy to me( yeah, I know its a paste). I paid 13.99 for it at the spice house. They have wonderful spices too. I bought some fabulous smoked paprika and some grains of paradise.

[rickster]

I use the Nielsen Massey paste all the time and it's not gummy at all. My bottle is more like a syrup. Can't explain the price difference though.

Edited January 26, 2005 by rickster (log)

[cotovelo]

I just ordered a 1/4lb of Tahitian vanilla beans from vanilla beans. I paid 26$, shipping included.

I was amazed at how cheap they are.  I did some seaching around and I found another site that sells the same amount for 75$

I'm hoping this wont be a case of caveat emptor.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

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I just ordered a 1/2 lb from them to try out. That is the cheapest that I have ever seen. My distributor is currently selling Tahitian beans for $89.95 for a 1/2 lb! I hope this is not too good to be true. Thanks for the website.

Chris

[Moopheus]

Apparently the wholesale import price (the price paid by the importers to their suppliers in the originating countries) has started to drop, but this has only very slowly started to filter through to retail prices, depending on the quality of the beans.

[mklynch]

I ordered 1/4# of beans from these folks last fall and they are very nice. I also got an ounce of saffron, and it's the best I've ever had. Great service, I put my order in on a Friday and had the product early the next week.

[duckduck]

Good to know! Thanks! I've been searching for a less expensive source.

[Bond Girl]

Just ordered 1/2 lb of Tahitian Vanilla from them. Keeping my fingers crossed on quality.

[mignardise]

I've tried there other extracts from specialty stores, not bad.

[Ajl92]

I just placed my order for a quarter pound as well. It is almost uncanny that I have known about this site for a while and was thinking about posting for other eGullet members' opinions. I always thought it did look a little too good to be true, but we shall see! Free shipping is another great perk of the site!

[Anni]

Thanks CaliPoutine, for this web site! I was gearing up to look for an affordable source for Tahitians, so excellent timing! I ordered a 1/4# to try them out. I'm in CA, so hoping for delivery by the end of the week.

[CaliPoutine]

Thanks CaliPoutine, for this web site! I was gearing up to look for an affordable source for Tahitians, so excellent timing! I ordered a 1/4# to try them out. I'm in CA, so hoping for delivery by the end of the week.

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Ok, well now Id like to know what you all prefer? The tahitian or the Mexican? I read that the Mexican is more of a true vanilla, but Tahitian is what Im most familar with.

What do you all think?