Vanilla Essential Oil

The vanilla essential oil is extracted by solvent extraction of a resinous substance obtained from fermented vanilla beans. Vanilla plants, scientifically known as ‘Vanilla Planifolia’, are creepers and are mainly grown in Mexico and neighboring countries. These plants bear vanilla beans which contain acetic acid, caproic acid, eugenol, furfural, isobutyric acid and vanillin hydroxybenzaldehyde. Vanilla is widely used as a flavoring agent in culinary, in the food, beverages and pharmaceutical industries but vanilla has found its uses in the world of medicines.

Vanilla Facts

The familiar vanilla bean pod is obtained when the green pods of the plant are cured, fermented and dried. Then the whole pods go through CO₂ process. Finally with the 'total' extract process, vanilla oil is obtained. The CO₂ distillation is responsible for producing exceptional quality aromas from pure vanilla essential oil. The unique aroma of vanilla is offered by the chemical component 'vanillin', present in it. Concentration of this component is different in different varieties, from just a few percent in some varieties, to about 27% in the CO₂ distillate from Madagascar. You would not get vanilla oil by steam distillation of vanilla beans since CO₂ and solvent extraction is necessary to obtain the precious aromatic and flavorful components of vanilla essential oil. Read on