<p>I don’t think anyone likes the taste of alcohols though. To me, the tannins and the like make up the primary flavors of wine and the taste of alcohol is just something to be avoided and masked.</p>
<p>I think industrial “natural” extracts do have to use strong acids and bases and various organic solvents and drying agents, etc. especially to get at inactivated compounds stored behind cell walls.</p>
<p>Any tips on cheap substitutions for the accessory compounds? (I’m a poor college student here … )</p>
<p>I really do notice the difference when I use real vanilla versus artificial. However, I do a great deal of baking where vanilla is the only spice. If I was making cookies that called for a great deal of cinnamon, nutmeg, and other similar spices, I might notice less of a difference. Hard to say. It’s easier for me just to use the real thing. </p>
<p>Other ingredients may matter more, depending what I’m making. With some dishes I can get away with using cheap fresh tomatoes. With others, I’ll be rewarded for using the best tomatoes I can find. Scharfenberger chocolate produces results head and shoulders above what I can get from Baker’s or Hershey’s, but if I’m making a pan of brownies for a class party for middle schoolers, it’s not worth it to use the quality, expensive ingredient. For these types of ingredients, it makes sense to consider going either high or low quality. For vanilla, it doesn’t make sense to have two bottles in the pantry.</p>
<p>Considering the cost of real vanilla and how little is used per recipe, why not just use the real stuff (so it costs 50 cents per recipe vs. 5 cents). The cost of the other ingredients tends to make vanilla a very minor part of the total cost. The exception would be when vanilla is a major ingredient, and then you can really taste the difference.</p>
<p>24 teaspoons in a 4 oz bottle. Penzy’s 4 oz double strength bottle is $16, or $0.67 per teaspoon. But, if you only use 1/2 as much, then it is only $0.34 per teaspoon equivalent. Store brand Pure Vanilla will be 1/2 that cost or less.</p>
<p>OP wrote: “Is real vanilla generally worth it? I’m trying to make mango rice (without the mango – I like the rice!)…Well I also hope to cook up my own parties for my friends so knowing where the population stands is important to me.”<br>
Then ask your friends what they like rather than “the population”.<br>
If you are really making mango rice, you might find that they like mango.<br>
Get a mango rice recipe that doesn’t call for vanilla–easy enough to find on the Internet.
<p>I can usually taste the difference between vanillin and vanilla, but I would be hard pressed to find the words to describe it. To me, vanilla is really essential in recipes that call for it. It adds a sort of perfumey richness. It would be like skipping the salt (either in a sweet or savory recipe). </p>
<p>Cardamom can make an interesting substitute, but the end result will be different, and may clash with certain flavors (don’t know about mango).</p>
<p>If you’re counting pennies, you’re much better off buying the cheapest “Pure Vanilla”. You are making mango rice partly for the pleasure of eating it, right? (Hmm, maybe coconut milk would be good in that too, but that’s not cheap either, but you wouldn’t need the vanilla.)</p>
<p>I generally use the fake stuff because it’s cheaper. I haven’t done a taste test comparison. I doubt my family would know the difference–they couldn’t eat the cookies any faster. (“Aw, mom, you used the fake vanilla this time–I’m throwin’ these away!”
I also use the “garlic in a jar.” So, not everyone is a “gourmet” cook. I’m sure something else in my life is more likely to give me cancer than imitation vanilla.</p>
<p>galoisien, alcohol is used to make vanilla extract because it is a good solvent for extraction and because it evaporates during baking, boiling, etc. leaving no residue behind.</p>
<p>Do not worry about “additives” - we don’t really know what they are anyway Go ahead and us the synthetic vanillin in your recipe, and whenever you see some vanilla beans on sale, get them. Just do not try to smuggle any ethanol out of your lab - it could contain toxic denaturants (other alcohols or toluene).</p>
<p>Hmmm. Future food scientist or a natural products chemist?</p>
<p>The folks at Cooks Illustrated did taste testing of real and imitation vanillas. It’s really interesting: [Vanilla</a> Extract - Cooks Illustrated](<a href=“Error”>Error) But it boils down to it depends on what you are doing with the vanilla.</p>
<p>My recipe uses coconut milk with vanilla. I don’t know if I should use cinnamon with the coconut sauce… </p>
<p>I’m going to be heating the vanilla extract in a saucepan to thicken the sauce … I’m guessing most of those flavor compounds are going to disappear?</p>
<p>The only thing is that I don’t have mango, so I’ll substitute using other cheap fruits or something. (I love mango but it’s too expensive for me!)</p>
<p>Team up with some other aspiring cook and join Costco or another similar warehouse club. A 32 Oz. tub of mango slices (no skin, no pits) was $6.99, I think. Vanilla extract is cheap, and so are many other things. But you need partners to pull this off:</p>
<p>Added: look in your frozen foods section for mango chunks. Mango is one of the few fruits, IMO, that freezes well without losing its flavor and taste. And frozen stuff can be significantly cheaper. Of course, you’ll need a freezer to store it.</p>
<p>It will evaporate from the hot sauce without boiling. Even if it does not completely evaporate, the amount of alcohol is so tiny, you’ll not even notice it!</p>
<p>I don’t know, I have Asian flush syndrome lol, I get flushed in as a little as 1 shot and I get headaches from a little as 30-50 mL of cooking wine … (I was using it to try to extract mint into my soup but I think I added too much wine.) </p>
<p>Also, since I’m using imitation right now, and it’s in glycerol, it’s less temperature sensitive?</p>
<p>Bottom line is you don’t need vanilla for delicious mango w/ sticky rice. Coconut cream, sugar, a little salt plus the rice…that’s it. But when you need vanilla always chose the real stuff.</p>
Go ahead and us the synthetic vanillin in your recipe, and whenever you see some vanilla beans on sale, get them. Just do not try to smuggle any ethanol out of your lab - it could contain toxic denaturants (other alcohols or toluene).</p>