It’s almost impossible to tell the difference in the lab between vanilla bean seeds and exhausted coffee grounds. Just as with pure vanilla extract, we suspect significant adulteration of exhausted vanilla bean seeds in the industry. Since exhausted vanilla bean seeds are purely aesthetic, why use them at all when finely ground spent coffee or nut shells look identical to the naked eye? The cost savings are enormous. So it unequivocally makes no sense to purchase vanilla bean pods for the sole purpose of getting their seeds. Which means that some of the seeds you see are not vanilla bean seeds at all. Since the seeds are a small by-product of vanilla extract, and we cannot obtain them unless we buy (extremely expensive) whole vanilla bean pods and make (extremely expensive) pure vanilla extract from them.Įven the cheapest, lowest-grade vanilla bean pods cost more that $100 per pound. In the last 10 years, however, as vanilla bean prices have increased, we have noticed an inordinate increase in demand for seeds, even while demand for pure vanilla extract has dropped. To meet the increased demand, we have offered the exhausted vanilla seeds for sale separately, keeping the cost per pound extremely low relative to whole vanilla beans. But in the last two years, we have seen requests for thousands of pounds of vanilla bean seeds accompanying much smaller orders for blended (Category II) vanillas made from both artificial and pure extract. The mismatch between demand for vanilla seeds and vanilla extract makes it impossible to supply enough seeds. In pure vanilla extract production, 1 gallon of pure vanilla extract yields about 3.5 ounces of exhausted seeds. Traditionally, vanilla manufacturers as a courtesy have offered the spent seeds to their pure vanilla customers. Genuine vanilla bean seeds can come only from vanilla bean pods. After the vanilla extract has percolated for an optimal time, the vanilla bean pods and seeds sink to the bottom and are filtered from the extract. As a final step, the vanilla bean seeds are sifted from the spent vanilla bean pods. The resulting bean pods and seeds are known as “exhausted,” because all flavor has been extracted. They are just what they sound like, tiny black seeds that line the inside of a vanilla bean.When flavor houses extract vanilla beans to make vanilla extract, the goal is to extract all possible flavor from the bean, including its seeds. What exactly are vanilla bean seeds or specks? It’s cheaper, faster and provides a strong, consistent vanilla flavor profile. Ice cream makers use whole vanilla bean pods to provide both the flavoring agent and the vanilla bean seeds.
Vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds are each added separately, providing both flavor and the visual effect of vanilla bean seeds.Vanilla bean seeds are added to ice cream in two ways:
The quality of the vanilla extracts or flavorings in these two ice creams can vary wildly, but neither is inherently better than the other. When your vanilla ice cream has vanilla bean seeds, or specks, it may be tempting to think that it’s more natural, gourmet or higher quality, but the truth is that the vanilla bean seeds are purely aesthetic. Vanilla ice cream is often sold in two varieties: French Vanilla and Vanilla Bean. It’s creamy, delicious and gourmet….right? Maybe.
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