Celebrated by the Aztecs, introduced to Europe by the Spanish, and universally loved for their enigmatic, warm, delicate, sweetly spicy character, the finest quality vanilla pods are highly prized, and a handmade vanilla ice-cream, creamy yellow and flecked with pure vanilla seeds, is a true luxury. At the other end of the scale, however, synthetically produced vanilla flavouring is ubiquitous in commercial confectionary, so much so that mass-produced vanilla ice-cream is often described as “plain”.

What are vanilla pods? They are the cured beans of a climbing orchid which originates in South America. Although the plant reached other countries, until the early 19th century, vanilla was produced almost exclusively in Mexico, as the hermaphrodite flowers could only be pollinated naturally by a local species of bee. Then Edmond Albius, a 12-year-old slave on the island of Réunion, found a way of hand-pollinating the pods, thereby opening the door to production in other areas, particularly Madagascar, now the world’s biggest producer of “bourbon” vanilla. It is the labour-intensive nature of hand-pollinating, harvesting, curing and drying the pods that makes them so expensive. On the best ones, vanillin, the key aroma and flavour element in vanilla, forms a fibreglass-like film of crystals on the surface.

What is the difference between vanilla extract and vanilla essence? While the purest vanilla flavour comes from splitting the pods and adding them, with their scraped-out seeds, to custards, poached fruit, sauces, casseroles, etc, vanilla extract is the next best thing. The most traditional extraction method involves cold processing, in which the beans are steeped in pure alcohol, then filtered and bottled. At the Ndali Estate in Uganda, the bourbon-style pods are grown high up with no pesticides or herbicides, then matured to produce a rich, intense flavour. The extract made from them has no added sugar or glycerine, and costs £5.99 for 100ml, from Waitrose. By contrast, cheap vanilla essence or flavouring is synthetically produced and can’t match the complexity of pure vanilla’s many flavour compounds.

What about vanilla bean paste and vanilla sugar? Vanilla bean paste is a syrupy mix of vanilla extract, seeds, sugar and thickener. You can buy vanilla sugar, but it is easily made by storing your vanilla pods in a sugar pot. For a more intensely flavoured version, do as chef Peter Gordon suggests: for a big jarful, cut 4 vanilla pods into 8 pieces each; blitz in a food processor with 500g sugar; scrape the sides of the bowl and process again for 2 minutes; mix with 500g more sugar, then store in a clean jar out of direct light. To use, stir well and sieve the required amount. Return the bits to the jar, add a little more sugar, stir well and reseal.

Readers’ queries: Where can I find rose veal for roasting?

Helen Browning’s celebrated, humanely raised organic rose veal is available in a selection of joints. From £9.58 per kg for boned and rolled shoulder (01793 790460; www.helenbrowningorganics.co.uk).

If you have a food query, e-mail food.detective@thetimes.co.uk

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