THAT LITTLE BOTTLE OF VANILLA EXTRACT IN YOUR PANTRY IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.
The world of vanilla is so much roomier, spanning the tropics from Mexico to Madagascar and Tahiti to Tonga. In addition to extracts, it comes in pastes, powders, and whole beans. And any of them will elevate your holiday baking.
Vanilla plants grow best within 20 degrees of the equator, and each country’s beans have their own distinctive flavor. Vanilla from Madagascar and Indonesia, for instance, boasts the most vanillin, the signature flavor compound in vanilla beans. Mexican beans have half as much vanillin but are smoky, fruity, and wine-y. Tahitian vanilla has a lot less vanillin, too, but is famed for its more perfumed, floral flavor.
For hundreds of years, Mexico had a monopoly on vanilla…
