Vanilla

Vanilla, as a spice plant, is Vanilla planifolia Andr. or Vanilla tahitensis J. W. Moore on FDA’s GRAS list ¹. The food you buy is usually a cured pod or an extract of that pod.

Beans. For 21 CFR Part 169, vanilla beans are the properly cured and dried fruit pods of Vanilla planifolia Andrews and of Vanilla tahitensis Moore ². A “unit weight” of beans is 13.35 ounces when moisture is not more than 25 percent (with an equivalent solids rule when beans are wetter) ². A unit of vanilla constituent is the sapid and odorous principles extractable from that unit weight by aqueous alcohol of not less than 35 percent ethyl alcohol ².

Extract. Vanilla extract is the solution in aqueous ethyl alcohol of those principles. Alcohol is not less than 35 percent by volume, and vanilla constituent is not less than one unit per gallon ³. Optional ingredients are limited: glycerin, propylene glycol, sugar (including invert), dextrose, and corn sirup ³. The specified name is “Vanilla extract” or “Extract of vanilla.” Two or more units per gallon may be labeled as a fold ³.

That identity is why “vanilla extract” is not a synonym for vanillin in alcohol, and not a synonym for a bean scraped into cream. Concentrated extract, oleoresin, and flavoring have their own names in the same part; if the bottle is made from them, the label must say so ³.

In the kitchen #

Extract is aroma in ethanol. Heat drives alcohol off; some aroma goes with it. A scraped bean leaves seeds and oily residue that a teaspoon of extract does not. Neither is Sugar, though sugar may be in the extract. In cake and custard, vanilla is a flavoring in Enriched dough and egg work, not a leavener. Application: Baking. Taste it as perfume, not as sweetness. Tasting is the skill. Cinnamon is a different bark.

What to notice #

A cured bean should be flexible, oily, and fragrant, not brittle sticks. Extract should smell of vanilla, not only of ethanol. If the ingredient list is vanillin and caramel color, you are not in 21 CFR 169.175.