Mexican Vanilla?

[Mr.B]

Has anyone ever tried flavoring with Mexican Vanilla? My wife bought a big bottle when she was there ... Pros and Cons please! thanks Lar

[Jim Davis]

I depends on the ingredients. Oil and sugar are no no's for atomizers. I tried a vanilla extract once and it clogged my atty. Found out it had sugar in it. You can give it a try if you wish.

[MaxUT]

Lar, look for "sucre" (sugar) in the ingredients list.

[MMAfighterNH]

mexican vanilla huh....

[wrecktangle]

I've heard that mexican vanilla has some type of nasty chemical in it. Whatever they process the beans with is not good. I can't remember what it is, but something akin to formaldehyde or something. We've got a great big bottle of the stuff in our cupboard that someone gave us a while back. It sits there, unopened.

[isande]

Mexican vanilla contains the same ingredients as any other vanilla - alcohol and vanilla extract. The difference in flavor comes from a different variety of vanilla bean... pretty sure it's one that's native to Mexico, but don't quote me on that.

About that "nasty chemical". Many years ago, Mexican vanilla contained coumarin. I have no idea why, I assume it had to do with how it was processed. Anyway, in the amounts that one would normally ingest, it didn't pose a problem...

The issue with the coumarin is that some people in Mexico were using it as a cheap form of booze. After all, a big ol' bottle of vanilla costs about $1.25 (USD) once you get away from the border. Back when it had coumarin in, it was even cheaper, like 75 cents a quart!

So people who were drinking this stuff by the quart became very ill and in some cases died.

In any case, the coumarin is long gone, and Danncy (the most common brand) even has a big sticker on the front that says "No Contiene Cumarina".

I have tried it as a flavoring but unfortunately it seems to be much too weak. This has been the case for most flavorings (other than candy oils/Lorann's) I've used, however.

--K