What to Do With Leftover Vanilla Bean Pods

Top-of-the-line half regarding the years I labored as a pastry chef was, fingers down, the limitless present of vanilla beans I obtained to play with each day. There’s nothing pretty similar to the distinct, if terribly space of curiosity, pleasure of sinking a paring knife proper right into a fat pod, then splitting it open to scrape out the rich paste stuffed inside. I would save the seeds for low-moisture duties, like vanilla shortbread or peanut brittle, then dispatch the empty pods in “moist” features—poached pears, vanilla ice cream, panna cotta, and so on.

Afterward, I would give the empty pods a lightweight rinse, wipe them clear, after which dry them in a low oven so I’ll retailer and reuse them down the road. This hardly, if ever, included making vanilla sugar, a popular trick amongst residence cooks that ends in an undeniably fascinating aroma. Sadly, that scent is like the best phrase of perfume: fleeting at best, and too unstable to survive the trials of boiling or baking. For that goal, I’m further inclined to retailer my vanilla pods in a package deal deal of 1 factor that is ready to eat—say, a bag of hand-crafted granola or a tin of sugar cookies.

Offered that vanilla beans worth higher than ever, it’s the entire further important to revenue from every pod. Leftover vanilla typically is a pleasant provide of style and aroma in your favorite recipes, nonetheless solely with methods geared towards extracting the pods’ water-soluble compounds. So go ahead—stick that vanilla bean proper right into a bag of sugar, or retailer it alongside some tasty take care of, nonetheless make sure you moreover put it to work shortly with one amongst these features.

Prolonged-Time interval Chilly Infusions

Slip a leftover vanilla bean proper right into a bottle of maple syrup and let it hang out in the fridge for a month, or add one to a quart of milk or cream and let it steep for each week sooner than using it in your favorite recipes. Whether or not or not you tuck the bean proper right into a jug of cold-brew espresso or a jar of lemon syrup, these sluggish, chilly infusions will impart a mellow vanilla character to regardless of you might have obtained stashed inside the fridge.

Transient-Time interval, Extreme-Heat Infusions

The next time you whip up a batch of caramel sauce, cajeta, or sweetened condensed milk, toss that leftover vanilla bean correct on in. Pull it out when you’re accomplished, or depart it in to double down with a cold infusion when these sweets are saved inside the fridge.

Brown Butter and Toasted Cream

Should you occur to’ve on no account enhanced brown butter with a vanilla bean, you might be really missing out. This comparatively high-heat approach pulls out the pod’s deeper, oakier notes, barely than the sunshine, perfume-y vanilla aroma we’re used to. It is going to add delicious complexity to classics like yeast-raised waffles, carrot cake, and chocolate chip cookies.

The equivalent idea can lengthen to Sohla’s toasted cream, by means of which leftover vanilla can create a secondary layer of style behind the browned, toffee notes of cooked cream.

Fruity Desserts

Aside from obvious features, like poached pears, leftover vanilla pods can add a creamy, aromatic presence in dishes like roasted strawberries, hand-crafted applesauce, cherry ice cream, and lemon syrup (or possibly an orange variation, when you occur to wanna groove on a Creamsicle vibe). Merely toss your pod into the pot with regardless of fruit you might be cooking, and take away it when you’ve reached your required diploma of vanilla style.

Ground Vanilla

After drying out, leftover vanilla beans are brittle ample to be flooring up alongside espresso beans when you occur to dig the pairing. Alternatively, they’re typically decreased to a powder in a spice mill and added with completely different dry elements to any recipe that might revenue from a vanilla improve—take your determine!

Standard Recipes

Whether or not or not you make panna cotta or vanilla ice cream, any time a recipe requires a freshly break up vanilla bean, chances are you’ll sub in a leftover pod so long as you steep it for a greater dimension of time—I’m going to often take that to about 24 hours. Merely it’s best to positively cowl your liquids all through that prolonged interval, as a shocking amount of evaporation can happen alongside the best way through which.

The complete moist methods above will even work to rehydrate earlier, withered vanilla beans which have on no account been used, nonetheless are too dry to separate and scrape (the sort you’ll often see purchased in glass vials on the grocery retailer, or lurking in a bag you forgot about inside the pantry). After soaking in a scorching or chilly infusion, these brittle beans will soften correct up, at which stage they’re typically break up and scraped so the seeds gained’t go to waste. Dried-out unused pods that haven’t been break up could also be flooring up with espresso beans or for vanilla powder, much like break up ones.

While you start pondering previous that bag o’ sugar, chances are you’ll uncover no end of use for these leftover vanilla pods, and a rising appreciation for the nuanced style they convey to the desk.

January 2018