Pure vanilla beans should be a staple in each and every kitchen.  Genuine vanilla beans can also be used in several many different forms for home as well as commercial cooking.  With a very little effort you can very well make some pure vanilla extract out of pure vanilla beans.  With the left over of real vanilla bean pods you can even add a sweet and delicious aroma flavor to sugar.  Another great and smart trick is to turn fresh pure vanilla pods into vanilla bean paste.

Vanilla bean cupcakes: In its extract form the vanilla bean is a very essential and important ingredient in home as well as commercial cooking.  It is also used to add a rich and subtle rich flavor.  Real vanilla is so much versatile that is even can be used in all the treats just like cakes and also in ice creams, hot coffees and hot delicious chocolates, even in meat sauces and yummy marinades.  Extract is also sold in a few unique and different forms: pure and real vanilla, vanilla bean and its imitation synthetic vanilla.  For a vanilla extract to be called a pure or real it must contain at least a minimum of almost 35% of alcohol content and at least 13.35 ounces of pure vanilla bean per gallon.  Some of the chefs may also use vanilla extracts with a double and triple or even stronger extracts to carry a much bolder aroma as well as flavor.  Imitation synthetic vanilla is a very cheap and cost effective and simple knock-off that is made by soaking some wood containing pure vanillin (the source of which as you very well know is the fresh vanilla flavor) in it or to pull out the aromatic flavor.  Imitation vanilla bean is then totally chemically treated with over 100 or much more ingredients to round-off the flavor and mimic or copy the real taste of natural tasting vanilla.

Vanilla beans originated back at Mexico's Mazatlan valley.  It later flourished in this region/area with the pollinating help of the popular Melipona bee.  Earlier attempts and trials to artificially cultivate the vanilla bean plant outside of this region totally failed until the vanilla growers quickly learned they could even be pollinated by their own hands.  Now, there are several many different sub-species of the vanilla grown all around the whole world:  Bourbon or Madagascar, Mexican City, Tahitian and West Indian vanilla bean.  All other hybrids vanilla or cross-breed vanilla are also highly grown commercially and domestically and the Bourbon vanilla bean plant is also highly grown in several other regions too in the whole world besides that of the island of Madagascar.

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