Friday

Bean there, done that

Now I can say I have used FRESH vanilla beans! Not that I don’t love my old vanilla extracts but this was so cool and oh so tasty. I had to do quite a bit of research to know what to do with the vanilla beans that I got fresh from Beanilla. At Beanilla, they sell 100% Certified Organic Vanilla Beans and the quality is Grade A. Grade A is measured by the beans’ moisture content, bean length and condition of the bean. So now—what am I going to do with all these beans?! Not to worry—these top notch beans will remain ready to enjoy for a very long time by wrapping them in wax paper or plastic wrap then storing in an airtight container. Now what to do with the beans? Just about anything. By splitting the bean open properly you will be presented with a fresh vanilla paste from inside the bean. Take a sharp knife and cut the ends off, then cut the bean lengthwise and scrape out the paste. Totally simple! My first experience using my beans I did keep it simple—I made a vanilla “milkshake”, here is what I did:

Scraped the contents of one Beanilla Vanilla bean, and added it to the blender with—1/2 cup cottage cheese (sounds strange promise its great), couple packets sweetener, milk of choice, couple of ice cubes – get to blending! – Note: It will turn out darker than your average vanilla milk shake because you are using REAL vanilla!