Vanilla
beans are actually the long, thin pod of an orchid plant. The pod is dried and cured but should not be
eaten. Instead, the tiny seeds inside
the pod are what you actually use. They
have the intense vanilla flavor . When a
recipe calls for vanilla beans, follow the recipe's directions for extracting
the seeds from the pod. Some will call
for the pod to be heated in a liquid mixture to make it easier to split open,
but even a dry vanilla bean can be cut lengthwise and a with a paring knife
allowing you to open and scrape out the tiny seeds. After the seeds have been removed you can use
the pod to make vanilla sugar.
If
the recipe calls for vanilla beans and you don't happen to have one on hand,
you can usually substitute 2 teaspoons of vanilla for 1 vanilla bean.
No comments:
Post a Comment