Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1891 — VANILLA AND ITS USES. [ARTICLE]

VANILLA AND ITS USES.

Some Points About an Interesting Vegetable Flavoring. In the window of a grqat confectioner's shop on Broadway, Now York city, is a statue of the Venus of Milo. It is of colossal size, like the original—in fact a cast—but the remarkable thing about it is that it is composed entirely of chocolate. A most appetizing femalo this is, but sho would not be really good to eat as she stands, becauso she lacks vanilla. Chocolate is not very good without vanilla for flavoring. There are plenty of other delicious things which would not be so at all without its aid. It enters into the manufacture of candy, pastry, ices, liqueurs, cordialß, and even perfumery. The bean is of Moxican origin, although found in almost "every tropical country. It is a vine of the orchid kind, with sea-green foliugo, thriving best in dense forests, whore its branches climb and interlace with the trees. This is when it grows wild, but it is cultivated with profit. Tho plant begins to yield in its third year and continues to bear until its thirtieth year, the beaus being gathered in a green state before they have matured. Tiiero are two ways of curing vanilla. One is to lay the boans on cloths spread upon tho ground and exposod to the sun. Thus treated they attain a dark brown color at the end of two months, when they aro bunched in bundles and packed in tin boxes for exporting. Tho second method consists in immersing the beans in boiling water until they become whito. They are then oxposod for a few hours to the sun, after which they aro oovered with oil of the cashew nut.

There are four qualities of vanilla and these arc determine 1 by the length and size of the bean, it being found that tho flavor and perfume are in direct ratio to the weight and measurement. The best and largest boans exude a sort of crystal frosting, which covers their surface. These crystals are found to bo almost pure bouzoic acid When one buys chocolate, it is found of various pricos. If you go to a firstrate confectioner's you will find it at 50 cents a pound, 75 cents, sl. and even higher. However, the quality of tho chocolate is about the same. The difference is in the amount of vanilla. The difference is not sufficient to be of any importance in the cost of production, but the flavor is improved proportionately and tho price is put on with a duo respect for the imagination of tho consumer. All tho same, tho Venus of Milo in tho cundy maker’s window would be flavorless indeed without tho aid of this humble bean from the south. It is said that when a confectioner employs a new hand* usually a woman, he turns her loose among the candies and requests that sho help herself. Thus her appetite becomes immediately' oloyed by surfeit. If the most avid devourer of sweetmeats were asked to consume in her lifetime a Venus of Milo containing, like the one described, 1,925 pounds of chocolate and deliciously flavored with vanilla, it is likely that she would lose off-hand and forever her appetite for all such delicacies.