VANILLA EXTRACT

In making vanilla extract, the beans are cut fine and immersed in a mixture of grain-alcohol and water. For the ordinary extract, the liquid is poured off a few days later and bottled, but a few manufacturers of the highest grade product allow it to remain in the casks for months and use the same casks for years, on the theory that this proce gives a superior aroma. Many extracts also contain small percentages of sugar and glycerin. The best extracts are made from selected Mexican beans. Medium grades come from lower-quality Mexican beans, Mexican ‘‘cuts,’’ etc., and other varieties of true vanilla-beans, or their blends with Mexican beans. Low grade and imitation products are manufactured from Tahiti beans, artificial vanillin, coumarin (see Tonka-bEan), ete. Synthetic eugenol, a chemical duplication of the principal constituent of oil of cloves, is the source of the bulk of the artificial vanillin used. The vanilla-bean is also sold to a small extent, whole and powdered—the whole bean separately in gla tubes and the powder in cans or bottles—but a good extract is more serviceable for the average consumer. VANILLA “SUGAR,” or Vanilla “Powder,” a preparation of diversified composition. Originally, it consisted of a mixture of ground vanilla-beans and sugar. Now starch, or a mixture of sugar and starch, is the customary inert ingredient, and the flavoring agent is a mixture of vanilla-bean, synthetic vanillin, and coumarin—or of synthetic vanillin and coumarin (seven to one or thereabouts) alone. In Germany, calcium carbonate is also used as an inert. These products are largely sold to ice cream manufacturers—for their purposes synthetic vanillin is superior to the natural as it yields more flavor under the extreme cold of ice cream manufacture. For general household purposes, the ‘‘sugar’’ or ‘‘powder,’’ whether of natural or artificial flavor, is wasteful in comparison with the liquid extract.