Imitation vanilla owes its flavor primarily to synthetic vanillin, while vanilla beans boast more than 200 other volatile compounds, leading to a “full, complex, subtle flavor,” McGee writes.

Nope, not all vanilla is the same. Here’s what you need to know about where vanilla flavoring actually comes from—and how to make your own.

The island nation off the southeast coast of Africa is the source of an estimated 80 percent of the world’s natural vanilla.

Credit: Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox Vanilla paste is a convenient and time-saving alternative to whole vanilla beans. It is made by blending crushed vanilla beans, seeds, and sometimes ...

Single-fold vanilla extract is, essentially, the baseline. Every pure vanilla extract you buy from the store will be single-fold unless they specify otherwise on the label that it's double-fold or ...

Castoreum, which comes from beaver anal glands, can be used as vanilla flavoring. But it’s expensive and artificial vanillin is far cheaper for imitation vanilla.