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Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba
At that point, though, you might as well ditch the ice cream and just eat pure hot fudge out of the jar.

Dikiyoba.


hot fudge on ice-cream.... yum!

what we need to do is get the scientists on the forums to make vanilla ice-cream that tastes good. tongue
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Originally Posted By: No Intro
what we need to do is get the scientists on the forums to make vanilla ice-cream that tastes good.

It turns out scientists like ice cream as much as the rest of us, because they've already done that. It's called "vanilla bean" and it is much more delicious than ordinary vanilla.

Dikiyoba.
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Any definition of "ordinary vanilla" that can exclude any actual vanilla bean is not a good definition.

 

No, let me refine that. Any definition of "vanilla" that can exclude any actual vanilla bean is not a good definition.

 

—Alorael, who would also have you turn down your mockery and improve your own ice cream with science! Or at least with chemicals.

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It's supposed to mean the actual flavor in North America, too. It's just that there it's almost invariably artificial vanilla flavor, and not much of that either, so it tastes of nothing in particular. And that's what people expect. Even so-called 'French vanilla' or 'Venetian vanilla' ice cream is simply dyed yellowish; it's generally the same fake vanilla. Hence the expression 'plain vanilla' to mean a default version of something, with no extras at all.

 

In Germany (for one place) you can buy actual plain ice cream, with no flavors at all. It's bland but rich — not a particularly popular product, but seems to have its little niche.

 

Vanilla is a long, thin bean, about the proportions of a pencil, but shrunk to maybe 4 inch length. For flavoring it seems to be used in dried form, or perhaps it's roasted like coffee; anyway, it's very black and brittle. It's usually ground to powder, or dissolved into some liquid extract. But it can also be made to flavor sugar by just sealing the bean up in a jar of sugar for several weeks.

 

Perversely, it's easy to buy genuine vanilla extract in Canadian and American supermarkets, and one can even find the beans in specialty shops. I've found it comparatively hard to find real vanilla for baking in Europe. In Germany they mostly sell this ghastly fake 'butter vanilla' flavoring. I import vanilla extract from the US.

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Originally Posted By: Student of Trinity
I've found it comparatively hard to find real vanilla for baking in Europe. In Germany they mostly sell this ghastly fake 'butter vanilla' flavoring. I import vanilla extract from the US.


I guess it is called 'bean' then, even though I'm still not sure from when on.

Said bean, which you can buy in most well-sorted supermarkets in Germany, can also be cut lengthwise and then be boiled in milk to add its superb flavor to some baking later.

What stores have you been to looking for real ('Bourbon') vanilla extract? Not all German supermarkets have it, granted, but the better ones usually do.
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Originally Posted By: Locmaar
Reunion used to be called Bourbon, hence the name. It belongs to France, however, not Madagascar, and is curiously part of the European Union.

But when's the pod a bean, is what I want to know cry


Not sure. Beans are often Fabaceae and contain a handful of large seeds, while an orchid's (I'm not big on orchids) seed pod contains hundreds or more tiny seeds. The term 'bean' is not a botanical term but a common word describing a seed pod of that general shape - hence bean shaped seed pod = bean.
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Originally Posted By: Student of Trinity

Perversely, it's easy to buy genuine vanilla extract in Canadian and American supermarkets, and one can even find the beans in specialty shops. I've found it comparatively hard to find real vanilla for baking in Europe. In Germany they mostly sell this ghastly fake 'butter vanilla' flavoring. I import vanilla extract from the US.


Weird. Vanilla extract is easy to come by in England - even the small supermarket I work at sells it. I have no idea about the beans, having never wanted to buy any.
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Good to know there's hope for finding real vanilla here; I've really only looked in Edeka, since we kind of found one good big supermarket when we moved here, and stuck to it. I should check out Wasgau, which seems to have a bit better selection of relatively exotic items. Including Hass avocados — the darker, wrinkly ones — which are the only ones worth getting.

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How come the #2 result in google for "vanilla" is the wikipedia article on "vanilla sex"? Why does this even need an article?!

 

At any rate, real vanilla is delicious, but I can't think of too much I can taste it in. Other than the occasional old fashioned vanilla sodas. And I always wondered why no one makes extra-vanilla ice cream that actually has a taste.

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Originally Posted By: cfgauss
At any rate, real vanilla is delicious, but I can't think of too much I can taste it in. Other than the occasional old fashioned vanilla sodas.


True. I wonder if vanilla would be such a household name if not for ice cream.

I much prefer the term vanilla girl/boy to plain jane/average joe.
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I guess I was really looking for the liquid vanilla extract, since that's what the North American recipes I know call for. It's pretty good, if you get actual vanilla extract — unfortunately imitation extract also exists, which is a poor substitute. Vanillezucker is kind of a mystery to me, and actual beans/pods are a bit too hard core. I'm not sure what to do with them. But if I can really find them, maybe it'll be worth trying to figure something out. The boiling in milk idea doesn't sound too hard.

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Originally Posted By: Student of Trinity
I guess I was really looking for the liquid vanilla extract, since that's what the North American recipes I know call for. It's pretty good, if you get actual vanilla extract — unfortunately imitation extract also exists, which is a poor substitute. Vanillezucker is kind of a mystery to me, and actual beans/pods are a bit too hard core. I'm not sure what to do with them. But if I can really find them, maybe it'll be worth trying to figure something out. The boiling in milk idea doesn't sound too hard.


Just make homemade vanilla extract. It's surprisingly simple, and very delicious:

Click to reveal.. (Homemade Vanilla Extract)

1.Buy some light/medium rum. a 750 mL bottle works best, but a 375 works okay too, just adjust the amount of vanilla accordingly.
2.Pour yourself a shot of rum. Drink it.
3.Using a sharp knife(best to do this stepquickly after step 2) bisect 3-5 vanilla beans(the more vanilla, the stronger the flavor, and the shorter the wait), but leave them slightly attached on one side. Then, fold them open. When you're done, it should look like a butterfly with two wings 1/8th of an inch wide and about five inches high. You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.
4.If you haven't taken step 2 yet, do so. You'll need the space freed up.
5. Drop the vanilla beans inside the rum.
6.Aww, you've just ruined some good rum. Have another drink.
7.This ferments, right? And fermentation needs oxygen, right? Better free up some more space in the bottle, so you get better vanilla, of course. Have another drink.
7 1/2. Thr3e is an oodd nUmber. Betr havve anuther drank.
8.Reseal the bottle tightly, date it, and then store it in a cool, dark, and dry place.
9.Wait about 3 months, less if you've used more beans(or had lots of rum to drink)

(since this is the internet, I must regrettably include the following two steps)

10. ????
11. Delicious, vanilla-flavored profit.

I laid down a bottle in February, and I just ran out of my old bottle, so I eagerly await May 4th, when I can pop open a new bottle
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Vanilla can be used in all kinds of things. Vanilla pudding, vanilla cookies, vanilla added to plain yoghurt to make something very different from commercial vanilla yoghurt. If vanilla ice cream hadn't become plain, maybe it would be used more often.

 

—Alorael, who has chewed on the beans. It's delicious. Your mileage may vary very much.

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Originally Posted By: CRISIS on INFINITE SLARTIES
Originally Posted By: upon mars
Or i shall parody this thread and stun you with my awful writing!

Please, stun us!


Are you being serious? Should i post a Gogon's head upon this thread? it seems utterly preposterous... well should i give it a try? Not that i would to but still... People might be offended?
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