Plain Vanilla

Constantly on the lookout for new and exciting things, I ran across these vanilla beans while shopping for milk on Thanksgiving day. Intensely aromatic and full of flavor, I will use these beans over and over.

You might say to yourself, "Hey Will, why did you buy so many of those expensive vanilla beans?"

To which I would answer, "Because I got them for ninety-nine cents each."

That's right.

Normally vanilla beans cost between five and seven dollars a bean. A luxury item that is usually skipped over for the less expensive vanilla extract, these vanilla beans were practically a steal. They are a fruit harvested from an orchid native to Mexico. The flowers must be hand pollinated and the vines checked everyday for new flowers and ripeness of fruit. They are grown in Madagascar, Tahiti and Mexico. These are reasons why they are expensive.

Labelled at $1.99 each, I was ready to buy three of them. At the register, the cashier ran them up as a dollar each. I immediately bought three more.

When I got home, I told my dad about the bargain, and he convinced me to go back and buy all the beans before the store realized the mistake. I would have felt bad if it was a mom-and-pop kind of store, but it wasn't so I am guilt-free.

I split them with my dad, and now we each have about a dozen vanilla beans to call our own.

You can bet that some crazy vanilla concoctions and some traditional dishes are going to be made in the coming year. I'm thinking rice pudding. I'm thinking savory applications too.

You can bet that things will be far from just plain vanilla.