1,459 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

How to use a vanilla pod effectively

Vanilla pods are used in many recipes, but they need to treated in a particular way to be effective, detailed here.

383 K 3.6/5 (80 reviews)

35 min.

Easy

2.65 €

3 pods

1 Ingredient

Last modified on: February 21^th 2011

For 3 pods, you will need:

1 3 vanillas pod

Change these quantities to make:

1 pod 2 pods 3 pods

Change measures:

Metric

Metric weight Metric volumes

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 9 min.

Resting: 15 min.

Cooking: 10 min.

All in all: 35 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 2 min.

Cut vanilla pod in two, then split each part in two lengthways.

Stage 2 - 2 min.

With the back, not the sharp edge, of a knife blade, scrape out all the small black seeds which contain the essence of the vanilla flavour.

Stage 3 - 2 min.

Add these small black seeds to the liquid of your recipe, here milk for custard sauce (crème anglaise).

Stage 4 - 10 min.

Add pod too, to get the whole flavour.

Bring to the boil, then remove from heat, cover and leave to stand for about 15 minutes, so that the milk absorbes the taste.

Stage 5 - 15 min.

It's important to strain the milk afterwards to remove all the bits, especially the small brown fibres of vanilla pod.

To do this, pour the milk throught a strainer...

Stage 6 - 3 min.

... to remove them, but use a strainer that is not too fine to allow the small black seeds to pass through.

See in this photo what's left after filtering: skins and brown fibres which would spoil your dish.

Source: Home made.

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	0	1 RDI=0 %	0	4 RDI=0 %	20 RDI: 0 %
Per 100 g	0	10 RDI=1 %	0	50 RDI=3 %	220 RDI: 3 %
Per pod	0	0	0	1 RDI=0 %	7 RDI: 0 %

The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman Change to a man

How much will it cost?

For 3 pods : 7.90 €
Per pod : 2.65 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

This recipe uses (among others)

Vanilla pod

Like these other recipes: Caramelized pear custard tart, Cannelés, Rum babas, Apple confectioner's custard, Rice pudding (riz au lait), ... See them all 35

Other recipes you may also like

Sugar syrup

This syrup is mainly used as a basis for all sorbet recipes, which consist of this syrup and fruit pulp, but it can be also used to soak biscuits for example, or for fruit salads.
February 21^th 2011744 K3.5 8 min.

Couscous

In couscous, the meat and vegetable mixture is rather long to cook, but not difficult. And the couscous itself (a kind of coarse semolina) is simple and quick to prepare.
November 16^th 2017512 K4.3 2 hours 40 min.

Potted meat (rillettes)

Potted meat (rillettes) is cooked long and slow in fat. Rillettes can be of pork or duck. Here is the pork version.
October 3^rd 2019434 K 25 6 hours 50 min.

How to prepare egg glaze

Bakers and pastry chefs use a glaze ("dorure" in French - the same word as for gilding) made with whole full eggs, beaten in a blender. This is used with a brush on pastry that would not naturally brown during cooking (brioche, puff pastry, ...).
October 17^th 2018302 K4.3 2 min.

Stewed apricots

Here is how to make delicious stewed apricots, both an easy and a more sophisticated way.
July 12^th 2023776 K 143.5 1 hour 20 min.

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.