# "Plain" vanilla **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869 "2012-07-30T17:29:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/21 "2012-07-30T20:52:24Z")
> [@](#): > > I want some vanilla gum, dammit! I don’t know about gum, but have you tried [French vanilla](http://www.jellybelly.com/Shop/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=9000-FR%20VANILLA) Jelly Bellies? They are good alone or when eaten with another flavor. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/22 "2012-07-30T21:52:03Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Did we have an ex-poster named Vanilla? Or are you trying to “Woosh” us? 😉 Had to look this up. Yes, a member named \*\*vanilla \*\*was banned. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/23 "2012-07-30T22:24:12Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Had to look this up. Yes, a member named \*\*vanilla \*\*was banned. Thanks, Cookie!! ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/24 "2012-07-31T02:09:53Z")
Vanilla is not the default flavor everywhere in the world. For example, in Russian and Ukraine simple sweet cream is the default. For them, vanilla isn’t vanilla. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/25 "2012-07-31T03:07:46Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Cardamom seems to work for _kulfi_. Oh, yes! I had to run to the freezer and pull one out. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/26 "2012-07-31T11:42:22Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Because it’s the best ice cream flavor, duh! Especially French vanilla. What is “French” vanilla? I thought vanilla comes from tropical jungly places. I’ve never come across French vanilla. Does it refer to French-style (egg custard) ice cream, as in French ice cream, vanilla flavoured, rather than French-vanilla-flavoured ice cream? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/27 "2012-07-31T12:07:17Z")
You got it, it’s an egg custard based vanilla flavor. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/28 "2012-07-31T12:44:38Z")
Yep: Per [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla#Cultivars): > [@](#): > > The term French vanilla is often used to designate preparations that have a strong vanilla aroma, contain vanilla grains and may also contain eggs (especially egg yolks). The appellation originates from the French style of making vanilla ice cream with a custard base, using vanilla pods, cream, and egg yolks. Inclusion of vanilla varietals from any of the former French dependencies or overseas France noted for their exports may in fact be a part of the flavoring, though it may often be coincidental. Alternatively, French vanilla is taken to refer to a vanilla-custard flavor ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/29 "2012-07-31T12:55:30Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Vanilla is not the default flavor everywhere in the world. For example, in Russian and Ukraine simple sweet cream is the default. For them, vanilla isn’t vanilla. My theory is that in America we tend to confuse and conflate vanilla and sweet white creaminess. Yes, vanilla is in lots of desserts, but is it really the distinctive vanilla taste that most people think of or do they mostly think of sweet + cream? I also think there’s a tendency to think of vanilla as the opposite of chocolate, which isn’t correct. Chocolate could never be the default flavor, it’s too strong. But it is a massively popular dessert flavor. Take ice cream for example, if you aren’t eating chocolate ice cream and it’s not flavored with something unusual like coffee or cinnamon, what is it? Not necessarily vanilla at all, but I think that’s where people’s minds go. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/30 "2012-07-31T12:58:43Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Yep: Per [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla#Cultivars):…have a strong vanilla aroma, **contain vanilla grains** and may also … I always thought that this was the key differentiator. French vanilla uses actual vanilla beans, and not just vanilla extract or flavoring. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/31 "2012-07-31T14:49:35Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > I always thought that this was the key differentiator. French vanilla uses actual vanilla beans, and not just vanilla extract or flavoring. My favorite vanilla ice cream - Breyers - has a ‘natural vanilla’ flavour, which contains real vanilla bean specks. Their ‘French Vanilla’ flavour also contains real vanilla, but has egg yolks, which is what makes it ‘French’ I believe. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/32 "2012-07-31T14:50:34Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > How did vanilla become the most common and “default” ice cream flavor? Simply, it is by far the US majority’s favorite ice cream flavor. And there’s no accounting for taste (in the original sense), so no questioning as to why it’s so widely liked. ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/33 "2012-07-31T15:09:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Good question. “Vanilla”, despite being white, isn’t “plain”. It’s flavored by extract from a bean, which is pretty weird, stated like that. (Americans never took to the sweet Bean Soup served as dessert in Chinese restaurants – a real Chinese dessert, as opposed to Fortune Cookies) Actually, “vanilla beans” are the fermented fruit pods of an [orchid](http://www.google.ch/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1188&bih=944&q=vanilla+orchid&oq=vanilla+orchid&gs_l=img.3..0l3j0i5j0i24l6.1401.6241.0.6982.14.13.0.1.1.0.76.804.12.12.0...0.0...1ac.TbjdQJol3BM), which are quite laborious to cultivate. It needs to be [hand-pollinated](http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2009/ruud_kirs/Life%20History%20-%20Reproduction.htm) since most countries that commercially produce vanilla lack the natural pollinators . However, the main flavor component, [vanillin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanillin), is easy to synthesize and therefore cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/34 "2012-07-31T15:15:11Z")
> [@Anaglyph](#): > > lack the natural pollinators Which, I think, is a specific type of bee, right? ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/35 "2012-07-31T15:23:14Z")
Yes, the Melipona bee, native to central America . ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/36 "2012-07-31T16:17:14Z")
> [@DelightfulExperiment](#): > > Vanilla also compliments many other flavours . . . “Hey, Cookie Dough, nice chips!” ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869/37 "2012-07-31T21:07:40Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > My favorite vanilla ice cream - Breyers - has a ‘natural vanilla’ flavour, which contains real vanilla bean specks. Their ‘French Vanilla’ flavour also contains real vanilla, but has egg yolks, which is what makes it ‘French’ I believe. I’ve read (but don’t feel like looking for a cite) that those specks are made from real vanilla beans _after_ the beans have been used to make vanilla extract. They’re called “spent” vanilla beans, and the only thing they add is decoration (if you can call tiny black specks decorative!) > [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I don’t know about gum, but have you tried [French vanilla](http://www.jellybelly.com/Shop/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=9000-FR%20VANILLA) Jelly Bellies? They are good alone or when eaten with another flavor. Dammit! I knew my work would be taking me past a store with a wide selection of Jelly Bellys today, and I was really looking forward to getting some, but they didn’t have French Vanilla! My dream of chewy vanilla masticating goodness has been deferred and is drying up like a spent vanilla bean pod in the sun! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plain-vanilla/629869.md?page=1)