Mexican food labeling laws are also much more lax. consumers have come to identify with Mexican vanilla.
This flavoring component is what produces the recognizable taste that U.S.
It remains a major component of artificial vanilla flavorings produced and sold in Mexico. For more information on artificial vanillas, see our article, Everything You Need to Know About Vanillin.īut in the mid 20th century, studies found Coumarin produces liver and lung cancer in mice. Coumarin was often added to artificial vanillas for its sweet, buttery taste. One of the components of artificial vanilla that is most pleasing to the taste is Coumarin, a naturally occurring aromatic compound. These standards play a big role in artificial vanillas. That’s because the FDA’s stringent manufacturing protocols and labeling standards simply do not exist in Mexico. These artificial vanillas, however, are often quite different from those found in the United States. That’s why in Mexico, even though the country grows very fine beans, artificial vanillas dominate the market. This is the paradox of vanilla’s hand-crafted production. As a result, in countries where vanilla is grown, the average person simply cannot afford to spend $10 on a bottle of vanilla extract.Īrtificial vanilla extract is affordable, and is the vanilla extract predominantly sold in countries that produce vanilla beans. This method is feasible only in poor countries where wages are low. From start to finish, vanilla beans are produced by hand. Vanilla simply does not lend itself to mechanization or other methods of mass production. After harvest, the beans require an arduous and tricky nine-month process of sun drying to cure properly. Grown from an orchid, vanilla beans are one of the world’s most difficult crops to cultivate. This has been especially true in the last three years, as bean prices have broken records. What many people don’t know is that in the countries where vanilla is grown, the average person cannot afford to buy it. To understand why, we have to look at the price of vanilla extract, and U.S. So why do so many people love Mexican vanilla extract and indeed go out of their way to buy it? Clearly there’s something different about Mexican vanilla extract! But it is quite rare to be able to discern any difference between vanilla extracts of the same quality from Madagascar and Mexico because both countries grow the same variety of bean, Planifolia. Similarly, most people can tell the difference between the two primary varieties of vanilla, Tahitian and Planifolia (the variety grown in Madagascar, Mexico). But very few can accurately distinguish the difference between a Cabernet from California and one from France, if both are of equal quality. Most wine drinkers can taste the difference between wine made from two different varieties of grapes, say a Cabernet from a Zinfandel. But as with wine, distinguishing those differences, and describing them, requires a keenly developed palette. Yes, there are subtle flavor differences in beans from different regions. Let’s untangle them.Īll vanilla beans derive their quality not from the region where they are grown, but from their methods of cultivation, harvest, and curing. But there is often a lot of confusion about Mexican vanilla extracts. The birthplace of vanilla, Mexico produces some of the world’s finest vanilla beans.
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