# What makes French Vanilla French? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-french-vanilla-french/210461 "2003-10-30T16:15:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NcCorduan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/df788c/32.png) [@NcCorduan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NcCorduan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-french-vanilla-french/210461/1 "2003-10-30T16:15:41Z")
…Or, more to the point, what makes French vanilla different from “regular” vanilla? I know that French vanilla ice cream is yellow-ish, while “normal” vanilla is more of a creamy white – and the same is true for pudding. But is that it? Is the addition of yellowishness the sole basis for French claims to their own variety of this flavoring? ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-french-vanilla-french/210461/2 "2003-10-30T16:49:49Z")
Didn’t the first post in the identical thread you posted three days ago answer the question? That thread devolved into French jokes, but not before it seemed to answer the question. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=219915](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=219915) ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-french-vanilla-french/210461/3 "2003-10-30T16:52:52Z")
Didn’t we do this [already?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=219915) The recipe hasn’t changed since last week, in case you were checking. ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-french-vanilla-french/210461/5 "2003-10-30T17:18:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stew \* > \*\*What’s so French about eggs? \*\* What’s so French about dropping sliced potato in hot oil? Don’t even get me started on Belgium waffles or Salisbury Steak. It’s a slightly different recipe. Someone gave it a name to distinguish it. ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-french-vanilla-french/210461/6 "2003-10-30T17:25:58Z")
I realize too late that my previous post comes dangerously close to “that’s just the way it is”, which is rather inappropriate for GQ. I was just pointing out that a lot of things have names which may have been tagged on for obscure reasons to distinguish very similar things. It’s certainly valid to ask when/why an egg-based vanilla ice cream started to be called French vanilla, but that’s not exactly what the OP asked. The OP asked if it was just a yellowish tint and the answer is no, it’s the inclusion of eggs that makes it “French”. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-french-vanilla-french/210461/7 "2003-10-30T17:26:29Z")
It smells funny, and it hides when the German Chocolate Cake is nearby. [Sorry, too easy . . .] ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-french-vanilla-french/210461/8 "2003-10-30T17:32:13Z")
And English muffins are from Wales! Strangely enough, whales can’t stand the things. ---
**Author:** ![NcCorduan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/df788c/32.png) [@NcCorduan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NcCorduan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-french-vanilla-french/210461/9 "2003-10-30T17:55:28Z")
Well, actually, when I tried posting the quesiton over the weekend, I kept getting errors when I clicked the submit button, and I never got any e-mail notifications so I had no reason to suspect my thread ever got posted. Thanks for being so understanding about it, though… ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-french-vanilla-french/210461/10 "2003-10-30T18:09:08Z")
I guess I can’t answer this “new” question with any authority. Maybe someone with a deep knowledge of food history will drop by to answer exactly why it’s French as opposed to something else. However, like the term _German chocolate_ (chocolate plus coconut), the term _French vanilla_ presumably comes from a dessert originating in the mentioned country. I think the French were the first to popularize custard many centuries ago, from which ice cream later evolved. I can easily see French-style vanilla custard leading to “French vanilla” ice cream, pudding, pastry filling, and inevitably, room deodorizers. But mind you, that’s just a guess. My second theory — should you reject the one just given — is that French vanilla is named after a vain and wealthy Cleveland confectioner of the 19th Century named “French”, who, by a quirk of estate law long since repaired, willed that small portions of his puréed corpse be included in a flavor of ice cream, to be sold world-wide. Mr. French, and his mysteriously irresistable flavor, are still with us even today. But mind you, that’s just a guess.