The same beans can be treated for extract by different persons and an entirely different quality of goods produced, just as two cooks can take the same kind of flour and one will produce a delightful loaf of bread while the bread of the other will not be fit to eat.
We age our Bee Brand Extracts for two years in white oak casks before placing them on the market. Thus they become mellow and have a rich, dainty bouquet, which cannot be obtained by any other process. The minimum cost of carrying large vats of Vanilla is about 12 to 15 per cent per year. A fine, properly aged Extract of Vanilla, such as Bee Brand, made from the best beans, would cost from $8.00 to $9.00 a gallon to manufacture, and yet “Strictly Pure U. S. Standard Extracts” can be made to cost not over $3.50 per gallon.
Frequently you will find that a cheap pure Extract of Vanilla is almost as strong as the fine, or high priced, Bee Brand goods, but its flavor is rank and it has not the same bouquet and delicacy of flavor, the comparison between the two being the same as that between cheap cigars (three for 5 cents), which may be just as strong as a fine Havana, or stronger, which costs 25 cents, but the latter has a flavor and quality which the former do not approach.
The average consumer thinks if an Extract is pure it must be good, and is satisfied with that statement. This belief on the part of the consumer is largely due to the fact that many jobbers and large retailers want their goods under their own names, requesting the manufacturer to put up the cheapest Extract that will comply with the law, regardless of the kind of beans or other materials used in its manufacture. They simply ask for goods that comply with State and National laws, but you can readily see what the word “pure” means under this condition.
These jobbers and retailers think when they have complied with the law they have done all that is necessary. We refuse positively to sell our Bee Brand goods, or any other Flavoring Extracts, under any other name than our own.
The consumer must realize that purity is one thing, strength another, but quality, the cardinal feature by which to judge, can be obtained only by buying goods under the name of a reputable manufacturer.
At one time the use of the ground or pulverized Vanilla-Bean directly in the article to be flavored was considered by bakers and ice-cream manufacturers a strong card to feature in their advertising.
Since the introduction of Domestic Science into so many of our educational institutions, with the subsequent general interest which the movement has aroused, the American housewife has come to learn that by the use of the ground bean only one of the several flavoring principles is obtained, i. e., vanillin.
The other active agents may be obtained only by intensive processing, and thus a full-toned extract is secured.
There is a great deal of “Vanilla Compound,” or “Imitation Vanilla,” sold. This is made always from manufactured Vanillin or Coumarin, or both. The natural Vanillin comes from Vanilla-Beans themselves. Put a fresh Vanilla-Bean where it is very cold and crystals will form on the outside. These crystals are pure Vanillin. For a long time this was thought to be the only flavoring principle of the Vanilla-Bean, but it has been proven to be only one of a number.