<p>Is real vanilla generally worth it? I’m trying to make mango rice (without the mango – I like the rice!) and I wonder if the non-vanillin accessory compounds found in vanilla make that much of a difference in comparison to synthetic vanillin.</p>
<p>Not only is real vanilla absolutely worth every penny, but some natural vanillas are better than others. My daughter (who is very frugal) and I (not so much) swear by Penzey’s double-strength vanilla [Spices</a> at Penzeys Spices Vanilla](<a href=“HomePage | Penzeys”>HomePage | Penzeys)</p>
<p>Using fake vanilla (vanillin) is a way that food companies cut costs. It has been implicated in causing hyperactivity in young children (feingold.org). Personally, I can really taste the difference.</p>
<p>Well then vanilla must cause hyperactivity too … vanillin isn’t an “additive” … well my main issue is that imitation vanilla lacks the accessory compounds that come with the plant but not with the organic chemistry process.</p>
<p>Make your own vanilla extract. Easy and the strength you want and way cheaper in the long run. Google it. Many recipes on the web.</p>
<p>Absolutely worth it, and as dmd says, the good stuff can make a recipe.</p>
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Why? Vanilla is made from a plant. I think that people are trying to find ways to make vanillin in a natural way, but right now what is available is pretty gross.
[VCU</a> News Center – Engineering professor makes vanillin from corn bran](<a href=“http://www.news.vcu.edu/vcu_view/pages.aspx?nid=980]VCU”>http://www.news.vcu.edu/vcu_view/pages.aspx?nid=980)</p>
<p>I am OK with petroleum in my car, but please don’t put it in my chocolate chip cookies.</p>
<p>Decided to get imitation today because there was an eight ounce version available for a dollar. ?Spidey, DMS is a common organic chemistry solvent. I use it all the time in the lab. It’s fine as long you extract the product using the right purification processes, e.g. fractional distillation.</p>
<p>You need industrial solvents to extract from plants too. It takes hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, calcium chloride, ether and magnesium sulfate to do a simple caffeine extraction from plants after all.</p>
<p>If the prof suggests that the dangers of synthetic vanillin come from dimethyl sulfate in the product, I would NOT recommend taking ANY chemistry courses from that professor. Even if dimethyl sulfate, a very reactive compound, were present in synthetic vanillin in minute, trace amounts, by the time the cooked product containing the synthetic vanillin in question reaches the table or when it touches any protein-containing ingredient (i.e. milk), DMS is GONE. I highly doubt it is present in synthetic vanillin in the first place in any dangerous amounts. I’d be more concerned about trace metals (which can be present in any foods).</p>
<p>Edit: OK, the prof is just fine. What she is trying to do is to create a <em>more environmentally friendly</em> PROCESS for vanillin production; it is the process that does not involve DMS, not the final product she is talking about! I agree that better processes that do not generate polluting waste (or better waste recycling processes) are needed, and not just for vanillin.</p>
<p>spideygirl, if you knew how many nasty, toxic chemicals are involved in the production of pharmaceuticals and plastics, you would not be taking any medicnes or living in a modern house or driving a car.</p>
<p>galoisien, you confuse DMS with DMSO: dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) is the common solvent, dimethyl sulfate (DMS) is a powerful methylating agent.</p>
<p>Oops, my bad.</p>
<p>All is cool as long as you do not do it in the lab :)</p>
<p>I thought we were talking about chocolate chip cookies.</p>
<p>VeryHappy, chemistry is not THAT different from cooking: mix the ingredients, stir, heat, boil, stir, test, boil some more… The difference is in the ingredients :)</p>
<p>Even though I’m a chemist, I prefer the separation of chemistry and baking and use the natural vanilla bean extract since it tastes much better (since it has not just vanillin but also a plethora of other flavor-adding components). Never use any food dyes in my cooking either. Just one look at their chemical structures makes my skin crawl.</p>
<p>I find food colouring sort of chemically fascinating though … all that pi electron conjugation!! It would be cool to have a sort of edible, heat-resistant indicator that would change color with pH … but that would be asking for a lot. Well that would be the only reason why I would use it in my own cooking. I generally cook for myself, and only care how it tastes. :p</p>
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<p>How important are those accessory compounds though? Would they be compounds that I could substitute with spices? I mean, surely some of those accessory compounds must be found in other cheaper essential oils, right? (Cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon, honey…)</p>
<p>I am reminded of an old story. </p>
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<p>LOL.</p>
<p>Is the allegory really spot on though? They say “vanillin” is the “predominant” flavor of vanilla, but how important are the accessory components? Would there be anything parallel to say, the interaction between glutamate and garlic?</p>
<p>You seem to be assuming that everyone has the same ability to perceive tastes, and that everyone assigns the same value to those tastes. I think the best way for you to answer your question is to conduct your own experiment. Use real vanilla extract in 1/2 of your recipe and use imitation in the other half. Which one do you like better? If you find them to be the same, the accessory components are probably important to you. Next, try different brands? Will your results be the same?</p>
<p>Well I also hope to cook up my own parties for my friends so knowing where the population stands is important to me.</p>
<p>Has anyone tried combining synthetic vanillin with natural spices? See, my theory is that using vanillin in conjunction with other scented spices with closely related compounds will make up for any loss of flavor.</p>
<p>Okay, there is a LOT wrong with some of the science here. First off, I can easily make a caffeine extract from coffee or tea using only boiling water, no “chemicals”. However, it is NOT pure caffeine, there are a lot of other substances that are extracted at the same time, some of which have pharmacologic effects (caffeine and some of the analogs), some of which merely add flavor. This boiling water extract, when made from ground coffee beans, is called coffee, and is sold the world over for high prices by an American company called Starbucks. </p>
<p>Another boiling water extract of caffeine is called tea.</p>
<p>Making an extract from natural vanilla beans can be done with any kind of drinkable alcohol (I like to use 151 proof vodka). You can also make vanilla sugar by putting vanilla beans (the seed pod of the vanilla plant) into granulated sugar. </p>
<p>Personally, I find the taste of artificial vanilla flat and boring. But then I’m quite happy to spend good money for natural vanilla, as I said before. Clearly, to me, the accessory compounds, as Galoisien calls them, are important to the taste of vanilla.</p>
<p>I also grow my own herbs because I find the taste of dried herbs a pale reminder of the original plant. </p>
<p>(I’ll just note in passing that people all over the world put a lot of effort into making alcohol-based plant extracts of different natural flavors. Just a few examples: in Italy, grappas are popular; in France, brandies and liqueurs; in Japan, sake… and, oh yes, wines. All over the world. Clearly lots of people like the way those accessory compounds affect the flavor of alcohol. I’m hard-pressed, in fact, to think of a culture that drinks pure, unflavored alcohol. The Russians, perhaps, with their taste for vodka.)</p>