Category Archives: Vanilla Blog

Watch Amia of Make It Amazing turn whole Uganda vanilla beans into a dark, spoonable paste, from cutting the pods through blending and jarring the batch.

Two tablespoons of vanilla powder, glycerin and simple syrup make a half cup of vanilla bean paste. No blender, no alcohol needed, and one step most recipes skip.

A five-star Google review from a Santa Barbara museum curator, with his own photos of what he jams and bakes with our beans.

Mid-recipe and out of vanilla beans? Here are the exact substitution ratios — 1 whole bean = 2 tsp pure extract = 1 tsp powder = 2 tsp paste — plus a ranked guide to which swap works best for your recipe.

Madagascar vanilla is made almost entirely by hand, and most of that work happens after the pod is picked: cleaning, scalding, sun-drying and months of conditioning.

In Uganda’s high tropics, smallholder farmers grow vanilla among coffee, cocoa, banana, and forest trees. The bean begins in a living, layered landscape.

Vanilla bean prices are at decade lows in 2026. A farm-direct importer’s report: current retail prices by origin, why the market fell, and what comes next.

Started your Christmas vanilla extract yet? An August start gives it four-plus months by December. The honest timeline, plus three ways the gift works late.

Pure vanilla extract does not meaningfully expire. The 35%+ alcohol content acts as a preservative, and the flavor actually deepens over time — which is exactly why serious extract makers age their batches on purpose. Here’s what you need to know about shelf life, storage, and when a bottle actually deserves to be tossed.

Paste and extract aren’t interchangeable — one gives you visible specks and body, the other delivers clean, liquid flavor. Here’s exactly when to reach for each, how to substitute, and how to make your own paste at home using whole beans or vanilla powder.