About Vanilla Beans
Vanilla beans are the fruit of a
Mexican climbing orchid.
Cooking with the whole bean and pod is remarkably better in flavor than just using extract.
The seeds are edible and the pod adds to the flavor too but should be removed after cooking and not eaten.
Vanilla is great for flavoring custards and puddings and a 3 inch section is equal to 1 1/2 teaspoons of extract.
To cook with the vanilla bean, it should first be split and the beans scraped into the mixture.