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Organic Vanilla Beans
Package of two beans, $15.
Vanilla is a vine orchid, and here at Steelgrass Farm, we've planted our vanilla vines so that they climb up our orange, lime and cacao trees. During the orchid vine's spring flowering, which takes place between mid-May and mid-June, we're out in the fields every morning just after first light to hand-pollinate each orchid as it begins to bloom. |
Bunches of fifteen to twenty flower buds appear on the vines in clusters called racemes (pronounced RAY-seems), and each morning, one or two buds in each raceme open to reveal yellow and pale green blossoms. But these beautiful delicate blooms live only a single day: by lunchtime they have begun to close, and if not pollinated, each flower will die by day's end, dropping off the vine and falling to the forest floor.
We use long, narrow thorns from a nearby Dwarf Date Palm as pollinating tools - they're exactly the right length and thinness to reach inside the vanilla orchid and reposition its pollen. Successfully pollinated orchids remain on the vine, and as the flower portion dries up, its stem begins to elongate. This will become the vanilla bean, which takes about ten months to mature.
Vanilla beans are an essential flavoring ingredient for great desserts: custards, cakes, cookies, ice creams and many kinds of pastry. But just as they're doing with cacao beans, adventurous chefs are expanding the vanilla bean's repertory. Below we've listed some creative ideas and recipes you will have fun trying out in your own kitchen.
First, though, make sure you're using real, whole vanilla beans when you cook. They're the best source for the rich, subtle vanilla flavor. (Liquid vanilla extract tastes shallow and flat by comparison. And if you're tempted to economize by using artificial "imitation vanilla" flavoring, remember that this product is usually made from the waste sludge that comes out of paper mills.)
To find complete recipes for mouth-watering dishes such as the following, Google the recipe name, or the phrase "cooking with vanilla."
Roast Leg of Lamb with Cranberry Vanilla Wine Sauce
Vanilla-infused Lobster Crepes
Vanilla-fragranced Duckling, Madagascar Style
Salmon with Curried Vanilla Rum-butter Sauce
Pork Chops with Vanilla-scented Onion Marmalade
Papaya Chicken with Vanilla-scented Coconut Milk
To make your own a vanilla-infused spirits, place two whole beans in a 750-ml bottle of best-quality vodka or rum and let steep. Infusion can take place rapidly, so sample the results every few days until you've arrived at the right strength, then remove the beans, which you can re-use in other recipes.
Next time you purchase a bottle of balsamic vinegar, pop in a whole vanilla bean and let its flavor infuse the vinegar. Add vanilla to any recipe calling for balsamic. To intensify vanilla flavor and make your beans go farther, follow this simple procedure: Slit a bean lengthwise with a sharp knife and scrape out the hundreds of tiny black seeds. These have the most flavor, so use them where you want the most concentrated vanilla taste. Then place the empty skin or shell of the bean in the container where you keep your sugar. After a few weeks the sugar will have a marvelous subtle vanilla fragrance.
And of course, whole vanilla beans still make the best vanilla ice cream. |
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