Can you do anything with vanilla pods once you’ve scraped out the seeds? They’re so expensive.
Jo, by email
“I put them in my knicker drawer,” says Sarah Lemanski, owner of Nova Bakehouse in Leeds. “They scent it nicely, that’s for sure.” But, culinarily speaking, and beyond custards and the like, Lemanski often uses them in vanilla syrup: “Chop the pod quite small, then dry-toast it with some of the sugar for the syrup – I use a 2:1 sugar-to-water ratio – to give it body.” The Guardian’s own Benjamina Ebuehi is very much in agreement, and keeps a stash of said vanilla syrup in the fridge to fuel her matcha habit: “I can’t be paying £6 for one every day.” (It would work well in iced coffee, too.)
“Even when you’ve scraped out as much as you can from a pod, there are always some seeds left inside,” Ebuehi says, so there’s still so much flavour to be had in there. Perhaps the easiest way to keep the love alive is by sticking a spent pod in a fruit compote: “Once that’s cooled, get it in the fridge, but leave the pod in there, so it continues to seep out that flavour.” You could apply a similar tactic to jam.
For Adam Sellar, executive baker at Toklas Bakery in London, it’s pod’s law to dry them out and blitz with caster sugar: “That gives a really good vanilla sugar for the likes of brioche, shortbread or any other simple biscuit.” Alternatively, grind the pods and add to salt: “That’s especially good with smoked sea salt,” Lemanski says, to add something a bit different to your next batch of chocolate chip cookies, say. “Remember that you can also freeze empty pods, then just make a big batch of vanilla sugar or vanilla salt, and gift it.”
If tangy fermented kefir is part of your breakfast routine, that’s another good moment to use up an empty vanilla pod or two. “Leave them in the mix while it ferments, and they’ll lend it a gentle vanilla flavour without making it too sweet or dessert-like,” Sellar says. At the other end of the spectrum, spent pods would also be right at home in a bottle of whisky: “Don’t use a nice bottle, mind,” says Jan Ostle, of Wilsons in Bristol. Rather, you want something “mediocre”. “Then, when you do Christmas drinks, you can be one of those really annoying people who prepared months ago.” Otherwise, he says, dry out the pods, mix with orange peel and black tea, then get the kettle on: “That would be beautiful.”
Of course, brown butter (AKA beurre noisette) can enhance the flavour of all the good things – cookies, cakes, brownies – so Lemanski would put empty pods to work in there, too. “I’ll either use the brown butter to baste brioche buns when they come out of the oven, or chill it down to solidify, then scoop on to pancakes or porridge.” Admittedly, we’re a way off porridge season at the moment, so right now Jo could do a lot worse than getting that vanilla in some good olive oil, Lemanski says: “Use it to finish desserts such as chocolate mousse, or yoghurt with raspberries and honey – it’ll make breakfast that bit more special.”
