The food thread

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Don't laugh, but tonight, for the first time I did battle with a vanilla pod. Up until now they had seemed like too much of a pain in the neck compared to a bottle of extract, but SWMBO ordered vanilla ice cream made with real vanilla and she even bought the pods. I still think they are a pain in the neck but the custard, which is currently chilling does taste gooooood.
 
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We do get a real vanilla extract, a brown paste like material with low alcohol content.

The local milk cooperative 'Amul' sells ice cream with real vanilla, they buy it from growers in South India, where suddenly a lot of cultivators got started, only to have a collapse due to over supply.
The growers have a cooperative as well, and they try to help stabilize supply and prices.

The other makers, including Unilever, use vanillin, artificial flavor made from the wood pulp industry by products, which is very cheap.

How did you break up the pod?
Can you shred it, and store the rest?
Have you tried cardamom powder and a little nutmeg as flavor to home made custard?
 
It’s kind of like ice. If you find it in an arena and it’s made by a refrigeration unit, it’s called artificial ice. If it’s on an outdoor pond and made by the outdoor temperature it’s natural ice.

Same thing, different source. I’ll let you decide.

Personally, I have not bought natural vanilla for many years. No one I know is able to tell the difference.
It reminds me of beer from a can vs. a bottle. We are all entitled to our opinions no matter how many times we fail the taste tests.
 
There are arguments about dark and clear bottles affecting beer taste, if left in a shop window, the clear bottles will let more light into the contents.
It does not matter if they are stored in the dark.
Cans, the lacquer coating the insides has been accused of a lot of things...

I think fresh spice pastes taste better than powdered spices, but for a product like vanilla, the storage and transit also may have an effect on the taste.

Then it becomes like frozen orange juice, kids who grew up consuming it found the taste of freshly squeezed orange juice to be odd.

Be happy and comfortable, it is like that sometimes, the effort to be different at times seems excessive.

BTW, I find a dash of black pepper fresh from the mill improves the taste of fresh orange juice, worth a try. I use about a pinch in a 300 ml glass.

Chikki season again, will try edible camphor, black pepper, fennel and some other additives in the melted jaggery, and a little black and white sesame in the broken peanuts, when making it on Sunday.
 
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How did you break up the pod?
with difficulty, as it came out the packet it was dry and stick like. I think next time I need to soak it a bit. but slice in half, scrape out seeds (I think I got half of them) and chuck in the milk.
Can you shred it, and store the rest?
Have you tried cardamom powder and a little nutmeg as flavor to home made custard?
There are seeds left. I washed and dried the pod so will re-use in something
Didn't try cardamom and nutmeg this time as wanted a baseline vanilla to work up from. The recipe may have had too much sugar but cannot tell until frozen, which is underway at the moment.
 
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TV chefs soak the pod and then dry it off. Split the pod in half lengthwise with a sharp knife, then scrape out the seeds and paste with the blunt (non cutting) edge of a butter knife. Use seeds and paste in your recipe, and cover the leftover pod with a cup of sugar in a sealed jar. This creates vanilla infused sugar in a week or so, good for many uses including sprinkling on kids' buttered toast.
 
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well with real pods it 'might' taste better. Don't know till I try. I'm supportive of reducing intake of things that kill orangutans and where clever people take food, break it down in a big chemical plant to it's constituent parts then recombine to make something new. I understand the skill of making 2 million pots of something a day that all taste the same with a long shelf life and identical mouth feel, but not sure I need to be eating it :)

The science is not there on what really is healthy and what isn't, but Bill's law is that unhappy wife is unhealthy to Bill!
 
Speaking of wine…….ended up with 5 cases (60 bottles) and a few mason jar quarts for the fridge (ran out of bottles)

Quite happy with the results, as good as any i’ve ever made. :cool:
 

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Fully fermented and particulate settled.
Product screened. Pulp will be dried and reused as crab boil, etcetera.
Chipotle style sauce 2023 bottled.

As usual, it's very good, the addition of the sugar prolongs the fermentation, gives it an extra tang and allows you to add a little extra salt at the end as an added preservative and flavour enhancer. The smoke, while a little mild for my taste, is still a nice complement.
 

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TV chefs soak the pod and then dry it off.
That's the only way I know.
ice cream tasted and I have brownie points.
Extra smooches from the Mrs, we hope.
well with real pods it 'might' taste better.
Note to Bill: Don't volunteer for a taste test test. A couple of drops of 'mystery liquid' and suddenly you think the real stuff is the fake.
but not sure I need to be eating it
Since you are old enough to type, your body has been so 'polluted'. whether you chose that or not, that to fight or buck the system is about as rewarding as eating 'organic' food. If that is confusing to you, I am not the scientist but the info is readily available.

I wish I were in marketing. But that is for another day.