I had some Vanilla Beans laying around at work and decided to run a trial on them.
Below (circa 2002) is from Nielsen-Massey, a major supplier of Vanilla products to the Food and Beverage industry.
"From Nielsen-Massey:
Q: What is a fold of vanilla?
A: A fold is the relative measure of strength of vanilla extract. Single fold vanilla is typically what the consumer buys at the market. For food processing, two, three or four fold vanillas are typically used. A single fold vanilla contains the extractive matter of 13.35 ounces of vanilla beans, containing less than 25% moisture, in one gallon of 35% aqueous ethyl alcohol. Two fold uses 26.7 ounces of vanilla beans, contains twice as much extractive matter and is twice as strong. Three fold and four fold are just three or four time the content of one fold. This is a standard of identity set by the FDA for Pure Vanilla."
So based on that info:
Regular standard vanilla is one fold:
If 1 US gallon= 3.79 L
then 13.35 oz/3.79 L or 3.52 oz per liter
If 1 oz = 28.35 g
then 100 g vanilla beans per liter of Vodka. Scale up for 2x, 3x etc...
As I had 150 grams of beans hanging out I decided to split this into 2 trials.
The first with 200 ml 100 proof (or 50% water) Vodka. To this 200 ml liquid I added 100 g Vanilla Beans coarsely chopped .
The second with 100 ml 80 proof (or 60% water) (Product redacted to protect against intellectual theft) Alcohol. To this 100 ml liquid I added 50 g Vanilla Beans coarsely chopped.
So, I'm not going to insert a spreadsheet here, but the ratio's above put both trials above a 4 fold Vanilla Extract. Or ....*** strong. I have never used anything over 2 fold in the kitchen so this should allow for very small amounts to be used in a mix.
I plan on letting this age or cure for as long as possible while sampling at 14 day intervals to pinpoint the ideal length of time needed to produce an acceptable end product.
I have stated in other threads that heat is the enemy of Vanilla and after several conversations with individuals in the Culinary field (and a mess of Googling), I have to rescind those statements.
I plan on evaporating the alcohol and combining with a flavor carrier once the desired flavor is achieved.
One other thing I will say about Vanilla Extraction that I have learned is that Everclear is not a good solvent for Vanilla.
I'll let ya'll know results down the road.
Below (circa 2002) is from Nielsen-Massey, a major supplier of Vanilla products to the Food and Beverage industry.
"From Nielsen-Massey:
Q: What is a fold of vanilla?
A: A fold is the relative measure of strength of vanilla extract. Single fold vanilla is typically what the consumer buys at the market. For food processing, two, three or four fold vanillas are typically used. A single fold vanilla contains the extractive matter of 13.35 ounces of vanilla beans, containing less than 25% moisture, in one gallon of 35% aqueous ethyl alcohol. Two fold uses 26.7 ounces of vanilla beans, contains twice as much extractive matter and is twice as strong. Three fold and four fold are just three or four time the content of one fold. This is a standard of identity set by the FDA for Pure Vanilla."
So based on that info:
Regular standard vanilla is one fold:
If 1 US gallon= 3.79 L
then 13.35 oz/3.79 L or 3.52 oz per liter
If 1 oz = 28.35 g
then 100 g vanilla beans per liter of Vodka. Scale up for 2x, 3x etc...
As I had 150 grams of beans hanging out I decided to split this into 2 trials.
The first with 200 ml 100 proof (or 50% water) Vodka. To this 200 ml liquid I added 100 g Vanilla Beans coarsely chopped .
The second with 100 ml 80 proof (or 60% water) (Product redacted to protect against intellectual theft) Alcohol. To this 100 ml liquid I added 50 g Vanilla Beans coarsely chopped.
So, I'm not going to insert a spreadsheet here, but the ratio's above put both trials above a 4 fold Vanilla Extract. Or ....*** strong. I have never used anything over 2 fold in the kitchen so this should allow for very small amounts to be used in a mix.
I plan on letting this age or cure for as long as possible while sampling at 14 day intervals to pinpoint the ideal length of time needed to produce an acceptable end product.
I have stated in other threads that heat is the enemy of Vanilla and after several conversations with individuals in the Culinary field (and a mess of Googling), I have to rescind those statements.
I plan on evaporating the alcohol and combining with a flavor carrier once the desired flavor is achieved.
One other thing I will say about Vanilla Extraction that I have learned is that Everclear is not a good solvent for Vanilla.
I'll let ya'll know results down the road.
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