Vanilla: How a Classic Flavor Takes on New Twists (2024)

Vanilla: How a Classic Flavor Takes on New Twists (1)

As a maker or manufacturer – in any industry – have you stopped to truly consider the incredible sugary-floral flavor profile of pure vanilla? Have you leaned into its versatility and experimented with complimentary flavors?

As one of the most universally accepted flavor profiles around the world, vanilla is not only a classic flavor, but it’s also a powerhouse that has the ability to mitigate offnotes and mask bitterness. When blended with other flavors, the taste experience can become wonderfully complex or especially comforting and familiar.

Indeed, vanilla’s strong aroma and smooth and versatile taste is begging to be a part of new flavor opportunities.

If Flavor Extracts Had a Popularity Contest, Vanilla Would Always Win

Ignore the “that’s so vanilla” statement. Vanilla is far from bland and boring, and regardless of what industry you’re in, the use of pure vanilla in a wide array of applications continues to increase.

From high-protein and vitamin fortified nutritional beverages (or any beverage, for that matter) to timeless baked goods, frostings, candies and much more, vanilla is the key ingredient in countless applications.

The manner in which vanilla can enhance and enrich a vast array of applications has evolved over the years, including the number of new products flavored with vanilla and the actual quality of pure vanilla extracts.

New products with a prominent vanilla base have increased by nearly 25% over the last five years.

Why? Vanilla provides a fragrant body and potent flavor profile quite unlike any other, making the characteristic spice the perfect addition to both old and new creations.

Just How Versatile Is Vanilla?

Whether you’re talking about sweet treats or savory creations, pure vanilla extract is a wonderful way to enhance a taste experience or deliver an undiscovered flavor profile.

  • Vanilla is an excellent match for dairy-based applications, like ice creams and smoothies.
  • Vanilla has been shown to pair well with every type of baked good, providing a boost of flavor and creating an indulgent experience in every bite.
  • With its tantalizing aroma and ability to offer subtle flavor nuances, pure vanilla can enhance artisan foods and all sorts of beverages.
  • Vanilla can mitigate offnotes of high-protein and vitamin fortified nutritional beverages.
  • Vanilla can mask the bitterness of caffeine in drinks.

Since vanilla has managed to retain its marketability through its wide use in co*cktails and ready-to-drink beverages, like coffees and colas, vanilla has the potential to be paired with practically any creative food or drink concept.

Perhaps above all, with today’s health and wellness trends and consumer demands, most pure vanilla extracts offers natural, clean-label associations.

Incredible Vanilla Flavor Pairings You Must Try

Without question, vanilla stands at the forefront of flavor combinations. Several well-known and unique flavors can serve as great compliments to pure vanilla’s flavor characteristics:

Chocolate Flavors

It’s no secret that chocolate flavors pair very well with vanilla. From classic chocolate to chocolate almond and chocolate cherry to white chocolate, these two flavor profiles have been known to make mouths water regardless of how they’re presented.

Nut Flavors

For most people, vanilla is used almost non-stop throughout the holiday season. You can add a dash to your warm baked goods, like almond cakes and cookies, or add a few drops into your hazelnut creations and peanut butter and walnut conceptions.

Fruit Flavors

Vanilla is actually known as a tropical spice, pairing well with other tropical flavors – like mango, pineapple and even coconut. Other fruits that go particularly well with vanilla include cherry, fig, orange, and strawberry. The tartness of these fruit flavors balances well with the sweetness of vanilla, bringing out the subtle flavor profiles of both.

Floral Flavors

Some of the best floral flavors that pair with vanilla include lavender, violet and even horehound. It’s because vanilla is associated with calming properties, making it the perfect balance for recipes that include floral undertones.

Other Popular Flavors Ideas

Vanilla can easily be combined with other flavors, including caramel, honey, maple and cinnamon. Some of the more recently popular flavor combinations include toffee and cookies and cream, highlighting the unlimited possibilities offered by the ever-versatile vanilla extract.

Download All-Natural Vanilla Flavor Pairings to Get Some More Ideas

Bulk Vanilla Extract at Wholesale Prices. Discover Bickford’s Flavoring Oils Wholesale Program

Whether you’re a small bakery, ice cream shop or cafe, or a large manufacturer, we offer bulk vanilla extract quantities – including vanilla extract in gallon sizing and more – to meet your needs.

Buy Bulk Vanilla Extract

Bickford Flavors is a team of well-established flavor experts and chemists, providing only the highest quality flavor extracts for over 100 years. With vast experience, we have the ability to meet your specific flavoring needs.

We use the highest quality, all-natural ingredients to create unsurpassed flavor extracts that don’t just complete your products, but they truly enhance them.

If you’re looking to genuinely stand apart from the competition and create something special, it only makes sense to work with a company who has been providing the highest quality products and services to their customers for over a century.

Our wholesale program delivers:

  • Preferred pricing
  • No minimum order requirement after one gallon
  • Faster than normal turnaround times

Learn more about our wholesale and sample program or, to get started today, download our wholesale business verification form:

Bickford's Wholesale Program

Download Wholesale Business Verification Form

Need a custom flavor for your application? We’re experts in creating one-of-a-kind flavors:

Call to Discuss Creating Custom Flavors

Vanilla: How a Classic Flavor Takes on New Twists (2024)

FAQs

What flavor goes well with vanilla? ›

Vanilla can easily be combined with other brown flavors, such as nuts and additional sweet notes, including caramel, honey and maple and spicy notes like cinnamon. “Flavor combinations seen more recently include toffee and cookie, along with fruit flavors, such as orange, mango and cherry,” explains Nagarajan.

How can I make my vanilla flavor stronger? ›

Lightly toasting the vanilla beans helps intensify and unlock their aromatic compounds. The heat causes the oils and acids within the vanilla beans to become more concentrated. Toasting also dries out any moisture, allowing the vanilla flavor to come through even stronger when incorporated into recipes.

How did vanilla byword blandness? ›

Blame it on ice cream. Already in the 1890s, vanilla ice cream was the baseline flavor in America, the plain vanilla that over the course of the 20th century went from straightforward and reliable to dull and ordinary — not so much a change in meaning as a shift in emphasis.

What are the notes of vanilla flavor? ›

A subtle but intoxicating combination of sweet, creamy, and floral notes. For any sweet application, Vanilla flavour is a go-to. Believe it or not, there are hundreds of different profiles to a vanilla flavour – from creamy to buttery; beany to woody.

What enhances vanilla flavor? ›

FLAVORS THAT GO WITH VANILLA:
  • Nutmeg: Nutmeg's sweet distinctive flavor is traditional in gingerbread, eggnog and rice pudding. ...
  • Cinnamon: Our pure cinnamon lends a warm, sweet aroma to everything from morning toast to cookies, and it also has a savory side, with earthy, mahogany-colored flavors.

What flavor cancels out vanilla? ›

Maple Syrup

Pure maple syrup has a rich, delicious flavor that both compliments and replaces the vanilla flavor in most baked recipes.

What causes vanilla taste? ›

Vanillin is the compound in vanilla beans that gives them their distinct flavor. However, less than 0.3% of vanillin used to flavor foods actually comes naturally from vanilla beans, primarily because extracting vanilla beans is a time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly process.

When did vanilla become boring? ›

Vanilla Came To Mean Boring

By the 1940s, the word was being used as an adjective. A 1942 Life magazine article describes "plain vanilla foreign policy," and a 1954 newspaper article described an athlete as a "plain vanilla scrub." In the 1970s, "vanilla" gained an additional association.

Was vanilla the first flavor? ›

Truth is many people get confused when they answer this question. Why? Because they think vanilla (due to its white color) is the basis for all other flavors. However, according to historical evidence, chocolate was the flavor invented first!

How would you describe vanilla flavor? ›

The characteristic flavor of vanilla comes from the aromatic compound “vanillin” which is described as tasting like a marshmallow. In vanilla pods of exceptionally high quality, the crystallized vanillin may be visible on the surface in the form of tiny white needles. Up to 85% of vanilla essential oil is vanillin.

What is the difference between vanilla and vanilla flavor? ›

Vanilla flavoring uses artificial ingredients while vanilla extract creates a natural flavor from pure vanilla beans. Learn more about vanilla flavoring and vanilla extract and whether you can use natural vanilla and artificial vanilla interchangeably.

How many Flavours are in vanilla? ›

Natural vanilla contains about 250 to 500 different compounds that infuse an abundance of flavors and fragrances into both food and non-food products. In this post, we look into the different types of vanilla and what unique qualities each variant brings to your recipes and non-food creations.

What blends with vanilla? ›

Citrus essential oils from the Rutaceae plant family, such as sweet orange (Citrus sinensis), lime (Citrus aurantifolia), lemon (Citrus x limon) and even neroli (Citrus aurantium var. amara (flos)), blend well with vanilla oil, in addition to other essential oils with a lemon aroma.

What is the best combination for vanilla scent? ›

Vanilla is fantastic by itself (we scream for vanilla ice cream), but it also pairs well with floral, spicy, woodsy and seaside fragrances – like the refined-yet-irresistible tones of a fruity perfume.

What flavors go well with vanilla cake? ›

Some of the more common buttercream flavours for a vanilla cake include: Fruity: strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, apple, pear, passionfruit, mango, peach. Tea: english breakfast, earl grey, matcha, chai. Tart: lemon, lime.

What flavors go well with vanilla icing? ›

Frosting Variations

Basic vanilla buttercream can be flavored with any type of extract including almond, lemon, peppermint, mint, coconut, you name it. I also love adding fresh citrus zest, like lemon, orange, or lime, as I do in the frosting for my Lemon Cupcakes.

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