Some people may have an issue with the idea of imitation vanilla because it is synthetic, meaning that it’s made in a lab as opposed to extracted from a real plant. In fact, it’s estimated that up to 99% of vanilla products out there are actually imitation, not pure vanilla! This means that imitation vanilla tends to be much cheaper and much more readily available than pure vanilla extract. This is because the harvesting of vanilla from vanilla orchids is highly labor-intensive and largely done by hand, which leads to those exorbitant prices. Pure vanilla comes at a much higher price point than imitation vanilla.

imitation vanilla extract is the steep price difference. One of the first things you’ll notice when comparing pure vs. So how does imitation vanilla size up to the real deal? As opposed to real vanilla, imitation vanilla generally only comes in liquid form, similar to vanilla extract.

Some common ingredients used to synthesize vanillin include spruce tree lignin, corn sugar, rice bran, clove oil, and petroleum. But unlike real vanilla beans, the vanillin in imitation vanilla is made artificially in a lab using other sources. Imitation vanilla is often also referred to as “vanilla essence.” It also gets its flavoring from vanillin, the same chemical responsible for the rich flavor of natural vanilla beans. But there are also several other chemical compounds found in vanilla beans that contribute to their rich, warm, creamy flavor. That sweet, smooth vanilla taste that you know and love primarily comes from vanillin, a chemical that is naturally found in vanilla beans. However, many recipes will call for pure vanilla extract, a liquid version of vanilla that is made from soaking vanilla beans in alcohol and water. You can find vanilla in its pure form as a dried bean, or in a vanilla bean paste. The beans (or “pods”) are picked from the orchids then matured, dried, and processed into different vanilla products that you can buy. Some of the most common vanilla bean variations include: There are a couple of different types of vanilla orchids found in various countries around the world, and each resulting bean has a slightly different flavor with woody, floral, or spicy notes. What is vanilla? Real vanilla comes from the beans of vanilla orchids. imitation vanilla, and is one better than the other? (Spoiler alert: not really, they both have their uses in cooking and baking!) So what’s really the deal between real vs. But that high price on the bottle of pure vanilla extract might give you pause and make you consider using imitation vanilla instead. Your gut instinct might be to reach for the real vanilla, plus many recipes urge you to go for the real stuff and not imitation.

But when you head to the grocery store to pick up a bottle for those cookies, cakes, and desserts, you’re faced with two different options: real vanilla extract or imitation vanilla. It’s a staple ingredient in nearly every dessert recipe you’ll ever make, and its smooth, buttery-sweet taste brings out the decadent flavors of many of our favorite treats. If you’ve ever gotten a hankering for something sweet and decided that you needed to bake something to satisfy that craving, you’ve almost definitely used vanilla extract before.

Mexican vanilla vs vanilla