Madagascar, Mexican, French vanilla? Tasting 5 types of vanilla beans

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Madagascar, Mexican, French vanilla? Tasting 5 types of vanilla beans


Beyond Mexico and Madagascar, what are the differences in flavor of vanilla varieties?…

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36 Comments

  1. Please dont take offense to this. I really like the information in your videos, however when you speak into the camera, i find your lack of blinking and sanpaku eyes very unsettling and uncomfortable to watch, and it such that it distracts from the quality of your content. My suggestion is to use a voice over or if you want to be on camera, hire a body language coach to give you advice and tips on what you can do to appear more fluid and likeable on camera.

  2. Can I grind these up in my blender when I make my homemade almond milk? So far I've only used extract but I was wondering if I could use the entire bean instead. I have a powerful blender so they would be cut into very small pieces. Your thoughts?

  3. I think the issue with this is that Madagascan Vanilla is described as "Classic" instead of making out what it actually taste like, which sets Madagascan as the Standard and measuring the others based on that. It would be better if you can come to it from a blank-slate state and just describe how you find everything. For me, Madagascan is more sweet and less pungent compared to other varieties. Indonesian is smoky and woody, and Tahitian is fruity and floraly, it's more that you taste it in your nose than in your tonge for Tahitians,

    Also, Mexican and Tahitian Vanilla is two competently different plants from the one in Madagascar. Ugandan and Indonesian Vanilla are usually the same type as Madagascan. Indonesia also have the Tahitian type of Vanilla. It would be better if you can compare type by type, if you're familiar with the type, it's Planifolia for the Classic Vanilla, Tahitensis for the Tahitian varieties, and Pompona for the Mexican varieties.

  4. I tasted the ones from Madagascar and the ones from Tahiti, not easy to form an opinion since the taste can change from one harvest to another, but the Tahitian is really impressive in terms of smell, in terms of taste it becomes more complicated to determine. I want to taste the Mexican, the original.
    Salutation

  5. i like the floral and fruity flavours of tahitian vanilla but i find it hard to extract the flavours directly into my recipes' milk, especially compared to what some companies can do with more sophisticated extraction so i tend to use a high quality extract. even then with tahitian vanilla extracts, the vanillin flavour can still be lacking and using too much extract to compensate adds an alcoholic taste to the recipe; instead i can boost the "vanilla flavour" with some vanillin powder (pretty common in professional kitchens). its also really handy to have powder (or artificial extract) around when using vanilla in a way that would destroy its complexity or overpower it and save the good stuff for when it counts.

    it might sound a bit heretical to foodies but given how scarce and resource intensive vanilla can be i think being frugal and responsible as possible in using the real stuff is a good thing

  6. Can't compare since these are different varieties, Planifolia and Tahitensis, as well as different terroirs, among them some are volcanic soils, some aren't.

    It's also complet different refining methods leading to completely different results in matters of aromas and flavours since some will be fresh (still alive and continously bonifying with age), some will be frosted (full of crystallised Vanilline), and the standard ones will be just be dry like most of Planifolia in Madagascar, Uganda, Togo, Tanzania, Indonesia and PNG which are scalded (boiled), while in the Caribbean we scarify our vanilla beans, and in Polynesia they harvest the vanilla beans fully mature already on the vines.

    So It's like if you were trying to compare Saint-Emilion wine with "Baume de Venise" and "la veuve cliquot", No sense.

    Also milk tests won't extract all components and you lack the most interesting of vanilla complex flavours and aromas.

    French vanilla of course refers to vanilla beans from agroforestry culture in French territories, related terroirs and IGP: Planifolia from la Réunion, Mayotte, Seychelles, Mauritius, the Pompona and Planifolia vanilla from Guadeloupe, Martinique, New Caledonia, as well the Tahitensis from French Polynesia, Tahiti, Moorea, Taha'a, Huahine,…. Here are some more informations about the Fédération of French Vanilla https://conference-vanille.com/conference-2023/ which you can google translate. Also in French vanilla bean is named a "gousse" and not a bean, since in French a bean is a "haricot". And "Bourbon" is an old appelation which protect specific terroirs of vanilla beans, not necessarily French actually, namely Réunion, Mayotte, Mauritius, Comores, Seychelles and Madagascar, and one specific curing method which is to boil the green beans. This is what "Bourbon" vanilla means, and its origin comes from la Réunion Island which was named Bourbon island after the french royal family Bourbon and is where vanilla vines were first introduced, studied and its hand pollination with beans boiling processes created to cure big volume faster.

    And last but not least there is absolutely no comparison between bulk (or commodity) greenhouses-grown vanilla beans stored in warehouses, (one standardised monoculture of planifolia variety only that American market focus on and receive) and agroforestry vanilla beans (specialty Vanilla beans producing more than hundreds different varieties, sub-varieties and hybrids) which is what we, French, are looking for to cultivate, to cook and create culinary specialities with.

    Better refer to organic vanilla farmers themselves when you wish to learn everything about Vanilla Beans. And when it comes to cooking with vanilla, also better rely on a real professional chef(fe) who actually cook with vanilla beans.

    Sylvanilla is one you can rely on for certified varieties and origins of vanilla beans from agroforestry, as well as for actual vanilla related studies and publications.

    http://www.sylvanilla.ch

  7. My favorite is Ugandan vanilla followed by Tahitian vanilla. Ugandan has a super rich and potent flavor. I’ve got 16oz extracts beaning made of each and will create a blend for a third option once finished.