Just spent $18 on vanilla extract! WTF?

[T Roosevelt]

Of course, it was a pint bottle from Costco, but still! And then, at Albertsons the little 1 oz bottle is about $7.

Hopefully they won't figure out how to replace oil with it...

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. Vanilla is expensive anyway...

and there have been problems with the supply from Madagasacar, too, I understand, so it's generally MUCH more expensive than it has been.

[Atlas Mugged]

24. A friend of mine...

...just returned from Madagasacar and bought me a pint of the real stuff, as well as some raw Labradorite (an incredible stone). I also have a Vanilla vine in my greenhouse that I get the occasional bean from, whenever I remember to pollinate. You can get great Vanilla off eBay, or, my favorite, from Atlantic Spice (www.atlanticspice.com) I never, ever buy herbs and spices from the grocery store.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

2. Vanilla is very expensive

It requires a lot of hand labor. BTW, it is the only food derived from an orchid. Neat, eh?

[otohara]

3. If You're Ever In Mexico

buy it there! It's cheap and delicious.

[ironflange]

10. Don't use too much of it

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011207.html

[politicat]

17. Only if it has coumarin in it. Mine does not.

Read the article carefully and use that as your guide. I buy my "Mexican Vanilla" at a mexican grocer here in Colorado for about 6 USD a liter. It's the real deal and would get you drunk if you were nuts enough to drink it.

Pcat

[ironflange]

25. OK

You're right, it's the stuff you buy in Mexico that you need to be wary of. Anyone selling the adulterated stuff in the US could wind up getting his ass handed back to him.

[Catchawave]

4. Pure Vermont syrup is about $8/oz too....

...thought I'd do special and make my sweet potato casserole with the little marshmellows and a drizzle of real syrup, til I saw that price! Grabbed the 12 oz Log Cabin instead for 2.99. It will taste just as good!

[On the Road]

5. Yes, But If You Use it Properly, It's Worth Every Penny

Just don't use the price as a reason to skimp. Whatever the recipe says, add three times the amount. Mmmmm....

[warrens]

6. Scotch will get you just as drunk

What are you planning to do, make 113 million cookies?

[T Roosevelt]

13. We needed some for chocolate chip cookies

and balked at spending $7 for the little teenie bottle. So we went the bargain route...now we have to have cc cookies every week for a year (mmmmmm, cookies).

[fryguy]

7. still cheaper than saffron

Which, depending on the grade and quality of it, can cost as much as $15 for .5 grams - works out to about $6800/lb.


Then again, it takes about 200,000 flowers, harvested by hand, to obtain a pound of saffron...

[China_cat]

11. I was gifted with 2 OUNCES

of saffron threads from a friend who works in the middle east where saffron (and other wonderful spices) are even cheaper than their own domestic price for oil.

He also sent me cumin, garam masala, garam tandoori and 6 yards of pure silk that costs about $40/yd. here in the states.

[denverbill]

21. Or not. Here it is $35 for a full ounce.

Never buy saffron from the grocery store.

[Red State Blues]

8. link

http://www.botany.uga.edu/courses/btny4930/vanilla.html

[DrWeird]

9. That's the synthetic stuff?

Damn. I'd hate to think how much the real stuff costs.

[T Roosevelt]

14. McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract

as far as I can tell it's the real thing...

[DrWeird]

15. Well, there you go.

The natural, organic stuff has always been more expensive than the stuff made from processed wood pulp.

[T Roosevelt]

18. Wood pulp?

What kind of wood give vanilla?

The ingredients are from vanilla beans...

[DrWeird]

20. Any wood pulp.

It's made from lignin. It's a major commercial by-product from paper/pulp-mills.

Vanillin is a pretty simple aldehyde.

[T Roosevelt]

22. Wow, a chemistry lesson

Is this part of the smell around paper plants?

[DrWeird]

23. Essentially, yes.

Wood chemistry is very complex. The paper comes mostly from the stringy cellulose that makes up most of wood. The other major component, the lignin, isn't so good. It's what essentially makes wood hard, as opposed to softer leafy type plants. The lignin itself used to be just dumped into bodies of water. And since it doesn't really decompose, it just stays there. So in the past fifty years or so chemists tried to figure out what to do with the stuff. It's basically a biological polymer that can be broken down via a number of methods and into a number of products. The most noticeably smell from pulp mills, IMHO, is the ethanol that's produced from breaking down lignin. It's an important source of income for pulp mills. They sell it for industrial and food uses. Acetic acid is produced for vinegar. There's a number of sulfur compounds that are produced and can be very smelly. Vanillin is produced and is by far the leading source of vanilla for food products. Lastly, the stuff that can't be used for commercial products is treated in effluent fermentation ponds, where bacteria can help break it up before its released back into the environment.

[noonwitch]

12. I got the Spartan brand for $5.99 at my grocery store

The imitation was much cheaper, but it doesn't taste as good in recipes. It lasts a long time, so I don't mind spending the money.

[Sabriel]

16. I had the same reaction

The bottle at Penzey's was almost $19. Gad! I'm going to have to stop gratuitous use of vanilla, I guess.

[Ilsa]

19. I can't stand artificial vanilla. Vanillin leaves a nasty

aftertaste in my mouth and tastes cheap. I can't afford the highest rpiced vanilla, but I won't use the artificial stuff.

[CornField]

26. I'm so extremely spoiled

Mr. CornField works for a natural foods company. We get all our spices, essential oils, teas, etc. for below wholesale costs.