How interesting, you learn something new everyday.
annie.nz,
Aug 23, 2:56pm
Nope.The bottle says natural vanilla extract, the website says vanilla bean extract.And its taste is actually very good.Hansells make 3 vanillas - this is the stuff in the black bottle, not the beige or orange bottles.It's quite hard to find, most supermarkets don't stock it.
horizons_,
Aug 24, 1:06am
Well, I can happily recommend willyow's products. I have enjoyed baking and brewing with them for months now.
willyow,
Aug 24, 2:40am
The black bottle is the oneI was referring too - I suppose it's a matter of individual taste - if they were using vanilla beans or pods, I would have thought they would state that on the label.
annie.nz,
Aug 24, 5:17am
willyow - they do mention seeds, but not beans or pods.It's not upmarket vanilla, but I thinkit is very respectable givlen that it is 1/4 the price of the expensive stuff.If I was made of money I'd use Heilala for everything - but you'd have to use 1.5 to 2 times the recommended amt of it for strongly flavoured recipes.
willyow,
Aug 24, 5:42am
fair enough - but you don't have to look too far ( I'm not allowed to say where) to find reallygood real vanilla extracts for not much more than you pay for the Hansell's ones. Some of the store ones are outrageous with their pricing.
momma1,
Aug 24, 7:46am
i brought vanilla beans from a trader here, there were a heap of them they were fleshy and not dried like the ones i've brought from the supermarket and i put some in castor sugar and some in vodka to make my own essence
willyow,
Aug 25, 3:13am
It pays to check Trademe first to see what's on sale doesn't it -
mottly,
Aug 25, 3:18am
my mum always had a jar full of vanilla beans, and then filled with grog (anytype), it soaks all the vanilla flavour out of the beans, and give you that real vanilla blast.
willyow,
Aug 25, 6:03am
Vodka is best(ethyl alcohol) -that'swhat real pure vanilla extracts use. But brandy works well, - rum too.
amiri1,
Aug 25, 7:40am
I know this is blasphemy in the vanilla world but I prefer the taste of vanilla essence rather than the extracts, although I use the pods and beans over artificial. All I can taste in the extracts (and I've tried a few, even made my own) is alcohol and no vanilla. I'm not sure why. I can use the pods and beans fine in custards etc but not the extracts. Just in case anyone thinks it's because of bad extracts or bad vanilla pods, I've tried the ones mentioned above with no success. Does anyone else have this problem! :)
mottly,
Aug 25, 11:34pm
even jim beam works ok - that's all I had last time.hmmm, wonders what a 40oz of jim beam would taste like with a vanilla pod sitting in it for a day or two! lol
norse_westie,
Aug 26, 1:51am
I buy Willyows vanilla beans and adore them. Recently I popped three with their bellies slit into a bottle of (homemade) vodka. After two weeks it was divine drinking. Shame I dont drink it myself, but I could have been tempted. I have gifted a couple of bottles to friends who rave over it.
willyow,
Aug 29, 11:06pm
All I can say is that some people here are great judges of food!
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