The Quick Trick For Boosting The Flavor Of Your Vanilla Bean Pods

We have a bone to pick with those who say vanilla denotes plainness. On the contrary, vanilla is a spicy, complex, and versatile staple to any pantry. The ingredient is pulled from rare orchids (orchids!) that only grow in tropical climates within 50 miles of the equator, and the labor that goes into picking and fermenting them is no small feat. According to How Stuff Works, nearly 80% of the vanilla beans we consume are harvested by hand from a small island in Madagascar, which explains their high price point. What's more, the recent string of storms and the threat of deforestation afflicting the area has resulted in a dwindled supply and a surge in vanilla extract prices.

One might be inclined to reach for $5 imitation vanilla extract, especially in times of food inflation. But if you're willing and able to shell out your hard-earned cash for the good stuff, you won't regret it. To get the most bang for your buck, read on for an easy way to enhance the flavor of vanilla bean pods.

If you order the vanilla ice cream from pastry chef Carlos Salgado's upscale Oakland restaurant Commis, you'll detect a slight smokiness and an irresistibly strong vanilla flavor. The secret? Salgado chars his vanilla bean pods over a flame "to bring out a novel flavor that is at once familiar and exotic," per SFGate. According to a 2010 review published by the outlet, that rich vanilla flavor even made its way into a roasted corn soup whose base included the leftover oil from the charred pods.

Pastry chef Anna Higham employs the same technique in her book "The Last Bite," in which she notes that charring vanilla pods also puffs up the bean, making it easier to scrape the paste from its shell. Bon Appétit lays out the steps for charring your precious pods at home. If you have a gas stove, fire up a range and slowly turn a pod over the flame with tongs until it's "toasted and puffed up." If you're working with an electric range, you can achieve the same result in a heavy-bottomed skillet.

Part of what makes vanilla worth its price is the fact that, if stored properly, it can last a really long time. According to Masterclass, vanilla pods can stay fresh for up to two years in an airtight container kept at room temperature in a cool, dry place. To be on the safe side, you can wrap your unused beans in wax paper or a paper towel and store them in a glass jar, opening it every few weeks to air them out.

Getting the most out of your vanilla also means using the entire pod, not just the seeds. Once you've charred your pod and scraped out the sweet nectar within, you can dry out the spent husks in a jar of sugar and use them to infuse everything from custard to soup. "Drying spent vanilla beans in sugar mummifies the pods," says The Guardian, "which means they can then be infused into other dishes or finely grated like nutmeg as a seasoning."