What is Vanillin
Vanillin is a natural aromatic substance, derived from the fruits of vanilla ( Vanilla planifolia, fam. Orchidaceae). From the chemical point of view, we are talking about a phenolic aldehyde, an organic compound with molecular formula C 8 H 8 O 3 .
At the sight, vanillin looks like a fine, yellowish white powder, made up of needle-like crystals with the characteristic flavor and aroma of vanilla.
How to get it
Like many other substances of plant origin, vanillin is not found in nature as such; rather, it is present as an aglycone within glucosidic molecules.
This link between vanillin and glucose, which prevents, among other things, the perception of the typical vanilla aroma, is broken down by the death of the fruit by hydrolytic enzymes.
Natural and Synthetic Vanillin
This reaction is modulated by man through the initial maceration of the pods in hot water, which has the purpose of arresting the biochemical processes that occur in living plant tissues; after which, for a couple of weeks, the fruits (flat pods, 15-20 cm long and 8-10 mm wide) are left to dry in daylight, and wrapped in woolen cloths during the night, where they are left to exude inside of airtight boxes.
In this phase the glucosidic bonds are split by enzymatic hydrolysis, with the release of vanillin in free form; a final drying process follows to stop the enzymatic processes, which in turn precedes a final period of more or less long aging.
These traditional, rather slow, production processes justify the significantly higher cost (around 100 times) of natural vanillin than the synthetic one, which currently covers most of the commercial requests.
The main producing countries of natural vanillin are obviously those in which vanilla finds the ideal climate for its own growth: Mexico, Madagascar, Indonesia, China, Tahiti and humid tropical areas in general.
Purposes
The aroma of vanillin is widely used in the confectionery industry (especially in the production of ice cream and chocolate), cosmetics and pharmaceuticals (both as a corrective excipient of the flavor and as a basic molecule for the synthesis of other substances).
Recipes with Vanillin ยป
