If you cook, especially bake, much at all. Or have ever made a simple batch of cookies one time, you have probably used a recipe that called for vanilla extract at some point. And if you want the real stuff, you probably noticed, it is expensive! There is a reason. Real vanilla extract is made from a vanilla bean which grows from an orchid. And orchids are a bit touchy, slow growing, and only produce so many vanilla beans. They also don't grow in cold places like the Wyoming mountains though they are quite lovely if you care to go look up some photos of the plant. Anyway, much of the "vanilla extract" sold in the world today, up to 99% by some estimates, is artificial. There is a reason it is so popular, mostly the price. While real vanilla beans contain at least 250 flavor and scent compounds that seem to almost universally delight the human senses, those compounds also seem to enhance our enjoyment of other flavors in our foods. Artificial vanilla on the other hand, mostly focuses on imitating a single one of those compounds, vanillin. And does not come from a vanilla bean at all, but is synthesized in a factory from wood pulp or wood-tar creosote. Sounds tasty, right?
