By Lisa Sheffer
Let's take a deep dive into Vanilla Paste in the form of a massive Q&A session!
Q: What is Vanilla Paste?
A: It’s an alcohol-based sugar syrup with pureed vanilla beans or vanilla caviar suspended in it. Often, vanilla paste will also add a thickener like Xanthan Gum, and an invert sugar such as agave or corn syrup to prevent crystallization. Some recipes have other ingredients to add flavor or enhance the texture.
Q: Why should I make vanilla paste? I mean, it’s an investment, I want to be sure I’m going to like it before blitzing my beans to smithereens!
A: You should do what you think will work best for you, 100 percent. Here are a few things that our beanies love about vanilla paste:
- Most recipes are ready to use immediately after making, and the ones that aren’t only suggest another month of mellowing time before using. Vanilla extract can take a year or longer to mature!
- Thanks to the sugar, it has a mellower taste and can be used in uncooked applications without adding too much alcohol flavor.
- It adds a more concentrated vanilla flavor, so you can either use less paste than you normally would add extract, or you can just have a vanilla boost in your recipe.
- It adds pretty vanilla caviar speckles to the finished recipe without having to squeeze a vanilla bean
- Many vanilla paste recipes have options for using beans that have already been used to make vanilla extract, so it’s a great way to use up partially spent vanilla beans, and therefore be cost efficient.
Q: How do you use vanilla paste?
A: It can be used similarly to vanilla extract in baking or cooking, though it is thicker and does add a little sugar. Because it has pieces of vanilla bean in it, it will result in a darker color, more intense vanilla flavor, and the texture may change slightly. It can also be featured in raw applications such as fruit salad, whipped cream, or ice cream. We like to use it almost as condiment on oatmeal, fresh fruit, or in a smoothie! Check out this blog post for more ideas of when to use vanilla paste versus other vanilla applications, like extract, powder, or sugar.
Q: What’s the shelf life?
A: This depends a lot on which recipe you use, how much alcohol is used, how high the proof of the alcohol is, etc. Also, for liability reasons, we can’t promise a specific shelf life. However, because of the alcohol and sugar in the paste, the shelf life should be up to a year. The biggest “spoilage” that seems to occur is crystallization. Crystallization is when the sugar re-forms crystals and the syrup becomes lumpy, chunky, or hard, and can happen when not enough invert sugar was used or if it was refrigerated. Crystallization is cosmetic and can be repaired by re-blending the paste with a little more alcohol and invert syrup. If mold does form, the vanilla paste should be discarded.
Q: How do you store vanilla paste?
A: Again, it depends! If you’re cruising through your vanilla paste as fast as we do, we love a plastic condiment squeeze bottle, like this one. The squeeze lid makes for cleaner, easier measuring and handy access. However, if you are taking more than about 6 months to get through a bottle of paste, we recommend using a glass jar for storage. Keep in mind that vanilla paste is sticky, and a screw-on lid like a mason jar may be hard to open. Swing-top jars also can get sticky lids. To prevent too much difficulty opening and closing your paste jar, keep it clean and in a warm location, like a cupboard.
Q: How much paste does one batch make?
A: depends on the recipe! You can also make half or double batches to get how much you want. Check out some of our favorite vanilla paste recipes here.
Q: How do you make vanilla paste?
Q: Do you need a Vitamix or other high-powered blender to make vanilla paste?
A:… that’s a tough one to answer, because the smoothest, fastest, most delightful results come from those expensive blenders. But the answer is No. You don’t *need* a high powered blender to make paste. We’ve had reports from people who have used food processors or less expensive blenders to make vanilla paste with mixed results. Some tips to make smooth vanilla paste without an expensive blender:
- soak the vanilla beans in the required alcohol for at least 2 weeks prior to making paste
- cut the beans into ½ inch pieces prior to blending
- blend in small batches and give your blender a 10-15 minute break between each batch
- make the paste, then let it sit for about a week before coming back and blending it again
- pass the paste through a mesh strainer after blending to remove any fibers (fibers can be added to sugar or more alcohol to make extract)
- rather than using vanilla beans, use vanilla powder to make vanilla paste.
Q: What Vanilla Beans are the best for vanilla paste?
A: All of them! Any of them! You can use any vanilla bean for vanilla paste. Extract Grade vanilla beans may be a bit on the dry or fibrous side, and they may give you some grief if you are trying to blend a very smooth paste, but you can soak them in the requisite alcohol for 2-3 weeks prior to making paste, and that should help. Otherwise, the sky's the limit. Our favorite is usually Papua New Guinea V. planifolia, but we've made delicious batches with Madagascar Mexican-cure V. planifolia, Ecuador V. tahitensis, Timor Leste V. planifolia extract grade, and of course, plenty out of Madagascar Bourbon V. planifolia. Our vanilla bean blends, especially the dark vanilla bean blend, are also very popular with vanilla paste. It's very much up to you!
Q: Can you use something other than corn syrup for the invert sugar?
A: Yes, most of the recipes have options for honey, agave, or making your own invert sugar.
Q: Can you use a different sweetener instead of the sugar?
A: We haven’t tested all of these options, but there are a few posts in Indri’s Vanilla Bean Group that discuss this need. Because this takes us far beyond our area of expertise, we’re going to step aside and let you do your own experiments and research. In other words, they’re your beans, go for it, but if it spoils more quickly or has a strange taste, we’re not responsible. But if it works, we’d love it if you let us know what you did so we can learn together!
Q: What alcohol is best to use for vanilla paste?
A: It’s personal preference! Most recipes call for ~80 proof alcohol (the same as vanilla extract). We like vodka or rum. Rum tends to enhance the sweetness of the paste, and vodka makes a nice clean, simple paste. Kraken spiced rum is a popular choice for complex, rich paste, Appleton Estate rum or Captain Morgan rum are also frequently mentioned. Kirkland French Vodka or Smirnoff are great suggestions for vodka.
Q: My paste turned out lumpy or too thick. What can I do to fix it?
A: Add another 2-6 ounces of vanilla extract or alcohol (water will dilute it and affect the shelf life), let it soak for another week, and then blend it again. You can also pass it through a mesh strainer to remove large fibers.
Q: My paste turned out really thin and watery. What can I do to fix it?
A: You can add more vanilla beans or xanthan gum, a little at a time, and blend again. It will warm up as it blends, though, and then it will thicken as it cools, so make sure you’re assessing texture when it’s at room temperature.
Q: I don’t have xanthan gum, or I don’t want to use it. Do I need it? Or is there a different thickener I could use?
A: Xanthan gum is used as a thickener, and is completely optional. If you don’t use any xanthan gum, your paste may end up watery or it may separate. We don’t recommend using other thickeners like cornstarch, flour, or gelatin, unless the recipe has been specifically formulated to use those ingredients. They are not exchangeable with xanthan gum.
One more note about Xanthan gum—this gum is widely available in most grocery stores or online these days, and is frequently featured in gluten-free baked goods. It’s often sold in one-pound packages, which is a lot of xanthan gum if you’re only making vanilla paste. Paste typically uses ¼-1/2 teaspoon per batch! We do offer small packages of it on our retail site, here.
Q: What brand blender should I buy for vanilla paste?
A: First of all, we only suggest purchasing a blender if it’s in your budget and you have more uses for it than just vanilla paste. That said, all of us admins at IndriVanilla own a Vitamix and use them on a near daily basis for many things, including grinding spices and vanilla beans to a powder. We’ve heard a lot of great reviews on Brandless, Ninja, and Pampered Chef blenders. We’re sure there are many other great brands as well. For super smooth vanilla paste, we do suggest investing in something higher-powered and very reliable. Blenders do work better than food processors.
Q: Do I need to soak my vanilla beans before making vanilla paste?
A: It depends on the recipe, the moisture content of the vanilla beans, and the blender you’re going to be using. If the beans are soft and supple to begin with and you’ve got a strong blender and the recipe doesn’t call for a pre-soak, then you don’t need one. If you’re using dry or leathery vanilla beans, or you’re not confident in your blender’s abilities, or you’re doubting in any way, a couple weeks in the alcohol the recipe calls for doesn’t hurt anything.
Q: Do you sell vanilla paste?
A: We do! We also have vanilla paste kits that include 4 ounces of vanilla beans, 20 grams of xanthan gum, a recipe card, and a bottle and a label for easy storage. We also sell just the bottle, xanthan gum, and of course, all our many types of vanilla beans separately.