Vanilla pods

The cured seed pod of the vanilla orchid. Vanillin is only 1 to 2 percent of a cured pod and accounts for perhaps a fifth of what you taste. The rest is a group of more than 200 other compounds formed during curing, when the enzymes in the pod release vanillin from its glucoside. They include p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, anisaldehyde and anisyl alcohol for the sweet floral note, and guaiacol and p-cresol for smoke. Both parts are used. The seeds are visual and aromatic. The empty pod holds as much aroma as the seeds, and cutting it into pieces of 5 mm exposes far more of the inner tissue than splitting it lengthwise. Rate: 1 pod per litre of cream reads as present. 2 pods per litre is punchy. A dry, brittle pod carries much less than a supple, oily one, so judge the pod before you set the number. Scraped seeds come out bound together in the oily tissue of the pod. Rub them into the sugar to break the clumps apart, or they sink to the bottom of the dish.