# Ooh la la -- what's French about French vanilla? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471 "2008-01-14T14:06:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/21 "2008-01-15T18:52:32Z")
The royal one. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/22 "2008-01-15T19:12:40Z")
'Twas a joke. “Bourbon and branch…” Okay, fine, it wasn’t actually a _funny_ joke. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/23 "2008-01-15T20:31:03Z")
FWIW, I laughed, **twicks**. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/24 "2008-01-16T04:26:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Actually, they’re the ground up bits of vanilla bean pods. No, actually they really are seeds. I’ve used them myself. The vanilla bean pod looks like a black string bean. You cut the pod open and it’s full of little oily black seeds. You dump the seeds into whatever you’re flavoring. Nothing is ground up. [cite](http://www.saffron.com/vancut.html) ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/25 "2008-01-16T23:16:30Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] No, actually they really are seeds. I’ve used them myself. The vanilla bean pod looks like a black string bean. You cut the pod open and it’s full of little oily black seeds. You dump the seeds into whatever you’re flavoring. Nothing is ground up. [cite](http://www.saffron.com/vancut.html) [/QUOTE] In _theory_ they are seeds. In _practice_ they are usually ground-up pod. [Cite.](http://www.cooksillustrated.com/tasting.asp?tastingid=388&bdc=4656&position=3&type=homepagefeature) JRB ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/26 "2008-01-17T00:10:10Z")
[QUOTE=The Controvert] I suspect part of it is just marketing. Foods labeled “French something” sell better because they evoke a sense of European sophistication and French cuisine has a reputation for superiority. [/QUOTE] I remember a TV commercial from the '60s–I think it was for Jell-o French Vanilla pudding–in which the spokesman, whom I remember as a striped-shirt-and-beret-wearing stereotype Frenchman, praising this “Fronch Vaneela” in a thick accent, admitted at the end: "Of course, eet ees not really from Fronce…but zen…_neezaire am I!!!"_ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/27 "2008-01-17T03:57:14Z")
> [@](#): > > In theory they are seeds. In practice they are usually ground-up pod. Cite. Well that’s just wrong - like making peanut butter out of the shells. The flavor, as your cited article notes, is in the seeds not the pods. So let’s just say that Philadelphia vanilla ice cream contains vanilla seeds and cheapass imitation “Philadelphia vanilla” ice cream contains ground up vanilla bean pods. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/28 "2008-01-17T13:34:32Z")
The tongue action… ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/29 "2008-01-17T21:35:06Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Well that’s just wrong - like making peanut butter out of the shells. The flavor, as your cited article notes, is in the seeds not the pods. So let’s just say that Philadelphia vanilla ice cream contains vanilla seeds and cheapass imitation “Philadelphia vanilla” ice cream contains ground up vanilla bean pods. [/QUOTE] You think that’s bad? You should see some of the stuff fake vanilla is made from. In some cases, from _coal licquor_. Yuck. Vanillin, the chemical for vanilla flavor, is also found in evergreen needles. Just in case you’re running short and need some quick vanilla flavor. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/30 "2008-01-18T00:49:39Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] New York Vanilla? I’m from New York and that’s a new one on me. What you’re describing is Philadelphia Vanilla - which is basically vanilla ice cream made with cream, sugar, and vanilla with no eggs. It’s also often noted for using vanilla beans instead of vanilla extract as the flavoring which accounts for the little black specks - those are vanilla seeds. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard that called “dirty vanilla” ice cream. Nothing more to add except that the smell of real vanilla is damn near orgasm-inducing. 😃 Robin ---
**Author:** ![wouldn\_t\_you\_like\_to\_know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@wouldn\_t\_you\_like\_to\_know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wouldn_t_you_like_to_know)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2008, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/31 "2008-01-19T06:28:42Z")
when i was doing an inspection of a small ice creamery many many years ago for work, I was told by the owner that they made their French vanilla ice cream the exact same way as their plain vanilla with one exception. For the French vanilla ice cream variety, they would heat the vanilla in a pot until it would just start to “smell a little burnt” before adding it to the rest of the ingredients. For the normal vanilla ice cream, all the incredients went together at room temp. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/32 "2008-01-20T22:53:29Z")
> [@](#): > > **Little Nemo** : No, actually they really are seeds. I’ve used them myself. The vanilla bean pod looks like a black string bean. You cut the pod open and it’s full of little oily black seeds. You dump the seeds into whatever you’re flavoring. Nothing is ground up. Yup, I was actually eagerly awaiting this weekend to respond to this thread. My boy..something (my boysomething)'s family grows vanilla on a hacienda…in umm, a distant foreign land. He smuggled both fresh (as in green, off the orchid) and fermented (that’s the black wizened looking ones) vanilla beans for me back from said distant foreign land as a first date present. It’s absolutely amazing-the bean “seeds” are teeny tiny little specks, basically when you open the bean up it looks like microscopic caviar, like tiny specky dirt on the inside of the bean. It was amazing comparing the difference in smell/taste between the fermented and fresh beans. The fermented beans definitely give off the heady fumes of vanilla-the fresh ones smell raw and weird. It really makes you think of the set of circumstances that must have occurred for some primitive human to figure out “fermented vanilla makes yummy” because it’s not immediately obvious from the fresh beans. Best first date present EVAH! I’m going to try my damndest to take this from boysomething to boyfriend 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/33 "2008-01-20T23:09:40Z")
[QUOTE=anu-la1979] Best first date present EVAH! I’m going to try my damndest to take this from boysomething to boyfriend 🆒 [/QUOTE] I’ll say! That’s strong evidence that he’s a keeper. I’m all smiles for you! ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/34 "2008-01-21T00:09:38Z")
[aside] Thanks QB, it’s actually Potential Husband #3 (if you remember all the numbers)…the one with whom I started out on the wrong foot when I told him he was smart and he got all huffy because he thought I was being condescending… [/aside] ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471/35 "2008-01-21T03:25:19Z")
All these replys and still not the right one. French vanilla has tounges [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooh-la-la-whats-french-about-french-vanilla/433471.md?page=1)