1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: Lauren bog obam Here a trip down the Baking Aisle. 3 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: Can Land. Budget shoppers in a serious quandary. Why pay 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: nearly twenty dollars for four ounces that's a hundred and 5 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: nineteen milli liters of pure vanilla extract when you can 6 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 1: get the same amount of imitation vanilla flavor for less 7 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: than five bucks. Why does real vanilla cost an arm 8 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: and a leg. There are a few good reasons. It's 9 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 1: a classic case of supply and demand. Much of the 10 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: world's supply of vanilla beans about is grown in just 11 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: one place, the island of Madagascar and nearby Reunion. The 12 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: last few years have seen these islands ravaged by multiple 13 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: storms like Cyclone and awo in, wrecking thousands of plants 14 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: and driving prices up to more than six hundred dollars 15 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: per kilo or around three hundred per pound, which is 16 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: ten times what the prices were a few years previous. 17 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: Although twenty nineteen prices proved to be more stable than 18 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 1: the fluctuating rates of was forecast to seat production reduced 19 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 1: by which could send costs shooting upward again, but that 20 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,639 Speaker 1: was predicted before the COVID nineteen pandemic happened, which seems 21 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: to be sending prices lower. The other major contribution to 22 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,560 Speaker 1: sky hive and ella prices is the fact that the 23 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: plant is just difficult to grow. Species of vanilla are 24 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:30,480 Speaker 1: members of the orchid family. The bean is the orchids fruit. 25 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: It's only able to grow ten to twenty degrees north 26 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,680 Speaker 1: or south of the equator. The flowers grow on evergreen, 27 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:41,679 Speaker 1: climbing stems. The blooming season lasts just a couple of months, 28 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:44,919 Speaker 1: with a mere handful of fragile, green, white, or yellow 29 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: flowers blossoming each day, and each flower only opening for 30 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: pollination for one single morning before they wither and fall 31 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: off the plant. They're so delicate that they're only known 32 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: pollinators in the wild are species of tiny bees and 33 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: birds that evolved alongside them in their native Central American habitat. 34 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 1: So basically, if you're not growing vanilla in Mexico, and 35 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:12,639 Speaker 1: again most vanilla isn't, you have to hand pollinate. The 36 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: hand pollination process is difficult and requires an experienced person 37 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: to perform it successfully. Typically it's done by farmers who 38 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: have been in the vanilla growing game for generations. The 39 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 1: process doesn't end once the beans are harvested either. Freshly 40 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,799 Speaker 1: harvested vanilla pods are actually pretty bland. The crop must 41 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: be cooked, sweat dried, and cured in a truly prostincty 42 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,919 Speaker 1: operation that prevents rotting and allows a number of enzymatic 43 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: and friendly bacterial processes to develop some two hundred and 44 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: fifty flavor compounds that we love about real vanilla. From 45 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: getting to end growth to export, the whole shebang takes 46 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: a solid year, and that is why vanilla is the 47 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:59,920 Speaker 1: second costliest spice in the world, after only saffron. Ironically, 48 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: many farmers in Madagascar had moved away from growing this 49 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:08,639 Speaker 1: labor intensive crop before Cycloninao made landfall because of low 50 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: prices for the product. At the same time, consumer interest 51 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: in real vanilla had started to increase, further exacerbating the 52 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 1: supply problem. So is real vanilla worth the price? In baking? 53 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: Vanilla does a lot more than just make something taste vanilla. 54 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: With all those flavor compounds, it can enhance other flavors 55 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: in sometimes unexpected ways. That said, when a recipe calls 56 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: for pure vanilla extract, can be tempting to sidestep the 57 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: authentic but pricey version in favor of the much cheaper 58 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: imitation stuff, which is typically lab synthesized vanillen. Vanilla is 59 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: one of those many taste and aroma compounds that's produced 60 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: when you cure vanilla beans, but there are lots of 61 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: other ways to get the same molecule. You can use 62 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: yeast or bacteria to ferment an oil from cloves or 63 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: an acid from rice bran fed. One of those things 64 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:07,520 Speaker 1: be specialized and often proprietary microorganisms basically poop vanilla. Those 65 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: sort of products are considered natural vanillen that you can 66 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: also heat and pressure treat an alcohol that comes from 67 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: spruce trees to produce vanillen. As of the nineteen nineties, 68 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 1: a lot of the world's vanillen was actually a byproduct 69 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: of the wood pulp and paper industries. Finally, you can 70 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: synthesize vanilla in a lab using an oil that's a 71 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:31,159 Speaker 1: byproduct of the petroleum industry. Those two, the wood pulp 72 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:36,119 Speaker 1: and petroleum versions, are considered artificial vanillen. The petroleum version 73 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: is the cheapest of a lot by far, especially since 74 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: wooden paper industries worked to reduce their waste in the 75 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: two thousands However, if you've heard that some artificial vanilla 76 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: flavoring comes from the butt glands of beavers, yes, this 77 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: is a rumor that's incorrect on multiple levels. First Off, 78 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: any product derived from an animal would be called natural. Secondly, 79 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,279 Speaker 1: while it is is true that beavers do produce a 80 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: sort of vanilla's scented substance in a gland that's near 81 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: the base of their tails, it's not from their anus, 82 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: and it's not actually financially viable to milk beaver glands 83 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,359 Speaker 1: at a rate that would satisfy the world's interest in 84 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:19,040 Speaker 1: vanilla flavoring. The gland secretion, by the way, is called castoreum, 85 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: and beavers use it to mark their territory and to 86 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: impress humans by spelling just absolutely lovely. It did see 87 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 1: some use in the eighteen hundreds as a perfume ingredient 88 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: and food additive, during the time when beaver fur was 89 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,280 Speaker 1: all the rage in fashion and beavers were being hunted 90 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: in large numbers. It still shows up the fragrance industries sometimes, 91 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: but it's expensive and uncommon at any rate. The real 92 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: vanilla is rare. The vanilla flavoring used in foods we eat, 93 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: like vanilla ice cream is synthetic. If you can afford 94 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: to splurge on a few beans, it can be really worthwhile. 95 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: Though there are simple recipes online for extracting lots of 96 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,360 Speaker 1: flavor from them. You can even scrape the time reflect 97 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: black seeds from the pods for use in a special recipe, 98 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:07,040 Speaker 1: and then reuse the fleshy husks multiple times, drawing out 99 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,800 Speaker 1: flavor by steeping them in liquid or storing them in 100 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:17,840 Speaker 1: granulated sugar. Today's episode was written by Aliya Hoyt and 101 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Klang. To learn more about vanilla, check 102 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,040 Speaker 1: out my podcast about food science and history. It's called Savor. 103 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:26,480 Speaker 1: And for more on this and lots of other not 104 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,840 Speaker 1: so vanilla topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Green 105 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of my heart Radio. For more 106 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:34,360 Speaker 1: podcasts in my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 107 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.