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You're using far too much of it, that's why it's expensive and tastes like anise instead of vanilla. You should be using about 1/2 teaspoon in a 16 oz smoothie.
I make about 3-4 cups of smoothie or light shake at a time so 2 tsp of the vanilla flavor goes in the blender. Some fruit is rather tart so the vanilla product milds up the taste some without added sugar. It seems to add a slight sweetness to the beverage. I do like the taste of it though. I'm on a sugar/fat restricted diet.
I was looking at vanilla beans this week and wow are they high.
Vanilla is not that easy to grow--it needs a tropical climate and the flowers have to be pollinated by hand within a few hours of opening--and world demand exceeds supply. That's why it's so expensive, and artificial vanilla (vanillin) has been developed.
I make about 3-4 cups of smoothie or light shake at a time so 2 tsp of the vanilla flavor goes in the blender. Some fruit is rather tart so the vanilla product milds up the taste some without added sugar. It seems to add a slight sweetness to the beverage. I do like the taste of it though. I'm on a sugar/fat restricted diet.
Even at 4 cups, that's twice the amount you need to use. Can you use stevia or other sugar substitute? Or try adding 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon for a bit of sweetness for a change. It's delicious with berries. Or just keep doing what you are, but you'll have to live with the price.
A few months back I read the results of a blind taste test which concluded that people could not reliably pick out real vanilla as opposed to vanillin in baked goods.
Let's face it. 100% pure vanilla extract is priced for the rich days. Imitation vanilla is dirt cheap but tastes god-awful.
I found a great compromise. It's called Watkins All Natural Original Gourmet Baking Vanilla, with Pure Vanilla Extract. It tastes pretty good. It gives blueberry smoothies a slight anise or licorice flavor.
It's made with: Water, sugar, glycerin, vanilla extract (water, alcohol, extractive of vanilla beans), alcohol, natural flavors, fruit juice (color).
It might not taste quite as good as McCormick's pure vanilla extract to you but it's 100 times better still than Baker's Imitation Vanilla Flavor.
Here are Walmart price comparisons:
1. McCormick All Natural Pure Vanilla Extract, 16 fl oz, $35.90, $2.24/fl oz, 38 cents per teaspoonful
2. Watkins All Natural Original Gourmet Baking Vanilla, with Pure Vanilla Extract, 8 fl oz, $8.24, $1.03/oz, 18 cents per teaspoonful
With Number 2 above, I can use 2 tsp of it per batch of fruit smoothie in the blender to get a good taste. Since there are 6 tsp per fl oz, one 8 oz bottle makes 24 smoothie batches so that's 36 cents a batch of smoothie for the vanilla flavoring ingredient alone.
Number 1 (16 oz unit) above is not stocked on Walmart shelves so it has to be ordered to your home but shipping is free.
The Watkins product above is a semi-real-vanilla product.
I have a problem with sugar being the 2nd prominent ingredient in the Watkins, even more of it than vanilla extract.
Vanilla extract costs much less at Sam's Club (no longer belong to it). I buy the McCormick's. I haven't found a good substitute. I have to bite the bullet & pay up. But if I rejoin Sam's, I could get it there.
McCormick All Natural Pure Vanilla Extract, 16 oz., is $17.90. That's $1.12/oz.
McCormick makes an Imitation Vanilla Extract, 16 oz, $4.97/oz. at Sam's Club. That's 31 cents/oz. Ingredients: Water, Carmel Color, Vanillin, Ethyl Vanillin, potassium sorbate. But as you say, the imitations aren't very good. This one is better than some others.
A few months back I read the results of a blind taste test which concluded that people could not reliably pick out real vanilla as opposed to vanillin in baked goods.
It might have been on C-D. I don't remember.
True. It was America's Test Kitchen. They did a blind taste test of vanilla, using chocolate chip cookies. They were shocked: The winner was Baker's Imitation Vanilla (about $1 a gallon. ) It beat out all of the expensive, so-called "pure vanillas" that are more expensive than a couple of bitcoins. The testers complained that all of the high-end expensive vanillas tasted too "boozy" and too "bitter."
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) It beat out all of the expensive, so-called "pure vanillas" that are more expensive than a couple of bitcoins. The testers complained that all of the high-end expensive vanillas tasted too "boozy" and too "bitter."
