I just cracked into some unbelievable vanilla beans I ordered recently and thought I’d share. These are by far the freshest, richest vanilla beans I’ve ever used. Normal beans generally smell pretty monotone vanilla, but these have an incredibly complex aroma. I pick up some great tobacco and leather notes from these beans.
The best part is the price. Even for small quantities it’s about 50 cents a bean. They come vacuum sealed in a Food Saver type bag. If you’re in the market for Vanilla I’d highly recommend you try these:
Yeah, but 3 beans in a bottle for $30? Is it 20 times better than the ones on amazon? Because price wise, that’s what it works out to. I’m sure they’re great and it’s nice packaging, but that’s a lot of money for 3 beans.
Not having tried the stuff from Amazon, I don’t know how it compares. OTOH, I’ve tried many suppliers and this is the best I’ve found. In the interest of full disclosure, my sister used to work there so I never had to pay for the vanilla.
At that price I would totally use it! Even if it was only a little more than the amazon ones I’d give it a try. Maybe if I emailed them they’d do bulk beans . . . I’m not going to though.
One more idea if it still exists - I have bought online and from stores, but some of the moistest, and very flavorful vanilla beans I have found were in test tubes from Costco. They were big, long Rodelle beans. Two tubes, each holding five beans. I don’t remember how much they cost but I recall it was very reasonable. I still have one sealed tube’s worth. It would be worth a call to your local Costco if you have one and are a member.
I order my vanilla from the spice house in Chicago myself, and have been very happy with them. Usually this is when I order spices for rubs and the like as well.
