Vanilla pods, people in the baking circle believe that they have been in contact with it, it does not matter if they have not been contacted, but you must know that a high-quality vanilla pod, it is about two grams, and the price is actually as high as more than 50 yuan.
Seeing this price, I finally understood the profound meaning of the phrase "a baking deep like the sea, from then on the wallet is a passerby" [cover your face].
But what makes it so valuable? Let's take a look at it today!
01
What is Vanilla Pod?
Vanilla pods are also called Vanilla, the English name is Vanilla, derived from the Spanish word 'Vainilla, the scientific name is called vanilla or vanilla orchid.
It is an orchid vine with a slender pea-like fruit of about 15 to 20 cm long, native to all tropical regions of mexico today.
And it is said that the vanilla pod contains more than 240 kinds of aromatic substances, and the "fragrant concubine" of the plant kingdom is really nothing more than it.
And this is the only plant that can produce edible fruit among more than 25,000 orchids. It was such a coincidence that before the 16th century, it was discovered and widely used by intelligent Mexicans.
02
The way of the "flowers" of vanilla pods
Why were Mexicans the first to taste it?
As one of the world's most valuable spices, since there are extremely strict restrictions in all aspects.
Take "pollination". Flowers that have not been pollinated by industrious little bees from Mexico cannot produce vanilla pods. So, if you do the math, its natural pollination rate is less than a pitiful 1%.
But in the end, in 1819, vanilla was brought to the Mauritius Islands by French explorers, and after 22 years of hard work, he mastered the art of artificial pollination.
This delicate work must be done within eight hours after the vanilla has finished flowering, and it needs to avoid rain, ant infestation, and use flexible hands to guarantee a certain success rate, and this success rate is not 100%
It was then spread to the Comoros and Madagascar, where by 1898, Madagascar and the Comoros accounted for 80 percent of the world's vanilla production, and today it is only increasing.
Common vanilla pods are divided by species, mainly bourbon vanilla and Tahitian vanilla.
Among the bourbon vanilla, the Madagascar vanilla pod is the most famous, the fragrance is rich, the softness and humidity are excellent, it almost contracts the vanilla pods we can buy on the market.
In addition, vanilla has an extremely long growth cycle, taking 30 months from planting to flowering, and another 8 to 10 months from flowering to pod maturation.
Do you think that's the end of it?
No, but it doesn't, it only takes 4 to 6 hours, which means you have to make sure it's only done within that time.
03
The treatment process of vanilla pods
If you think you're very patient, then I can recommend you to make vanilla pods.
Hahaha, after a long planting stage, the production process of obtaining the aroma of vanilla pods also took a long time.
1: Harvest
After ripening, the pods are picked by hand.
2: Hot
Soak the beans in water at 63 °C for 3 min.
3) Steam
After half a day, the vanilla pods all turned green to chocolate and lost most of their weight.
4: Drying
Over a two-week period, every morning, in the sun for 2-3 hours.
5: Leave to dry
Dry in the shade on a well-ventilated shelf for 1-2 months.
6: Fermentation
Stored in oil-paper boxes to isolate external moisture, it can take months.
7: Classification
Pods are classified according to length and appearance.
After seeing so much, do you think that the production of vanilla pods is very cumbersome, but don't underestimate people's needs for convenience. It seems that people grind vanilla pods into powder and transform them into vanilla powder, and evenly attach vanilla aromas to sugar, which becomes vanilla sugar, and super convenient vanilla essence.
04
What is Vanilla Extract?
Natural vanilla extract is a brown liquid made by soaking vanilla clips in alcohol to extract the fragrance and filtering them, which is often used in pastries to remove the eggy smell or to make vanilla-flavored snacks.
Because the organic aromatic components of vanilla require organic solvents to extract, vanilla extracts are generally alcohol-based.
Open the bottle cap to smell a strong vanilla mixed with wine aroma, the taste is not squid over-appearance, in fact, it has to be diluted in the water, the charming taste, in order to really bloom!
Many of the vanilla flavors on the market are actually synthesized by chemicals, so even if they are similar, they do not really have the flavor of vanilla.
If you are a person with high quality requirements, a pure and natural vanilla essence is essential.
05
Application of vanilla extract
In addition to vanilla pods, the most recommended one should be vanilla essence.
Because it is really convenient and practical, there is no disadvantage except that it is expensive [cover your face].
Compared with the whole root of vanilla pods, which is easy to cause waste, vanilla essence will not have this trouble.
And because it is a fragrance extracted after a long period of soaking, its fragrance is also the best in the previous three extended products, and it is not easy to use too much, just drip, so as not to overly strong vanilla flavor, covering the original taste of the pastry.
In addition, he also lived up to his expensive value, and his application range was extremely wide-ranging such as desserts, bread, ice cream, drinks, chocolate, etc., and you can think of basically everything you can think of.
And there are foods with vanilla and no vanilla, and the taste is really quite different.
In the market, we sometimes find that some vanilla essences are hanzi, and some are not, in fact, they do not cut open the vanilla pods when soaking. However, in addition to the rich fragrance of vanilla seeds, vanilla essence is also full of visual effects.
After reading so much, I finally know why vanilla pods can become the second most expensive spice after saffron, even if it is expensive, it can't stop the love for everyone, partly because it is also a super plus in west points.
Defishy, flavorful, added, fascinating, brilliant