Real or Flavored Vanilla: How to Recognize Quality Vanilla

Vanilla is one of the most frequently faked ingredients in the world, because natural vanillin costs more than a hundred times as much as synthetic vanillin. To recognize real vanilla, look for a supple, oily bean, a precise label (“vanilla extract,” “natural vanilla flavoring”), a price in line with the market, and a certification you can verify.

Why is vanilla so often counterfeited?

Vanilla’s flavor comes mainly from vanillin. The vanillin in a real bean is scarce and expensive; vanillin made in a factory, from petroleum derivatives, wood or cloves, costs a tiny fraction of the price. When a poor harvest in Madagascar sends prices soaring, as after Cyclone Enawo in 2017, the temptation to cheat grows.

In France, an investigation by the DGCCRF, the French consumer fraud authority, completed in 2022, tested vanilla beans, powders and extracts sold at retail: about one product in four was non-compliant. Among the cases found:

• low-quality beans soaked in flavoring to seem more fragrant;
• “vanilla powders” made mostly of sugar and synthetic vanillin;
• already-spent beans, meaning beans whose aroma had been drawn out by extraction, resold as regular vanilla.

That last point is exactly why we sell our spent vanilla seeds and spent vanilla powder under that name, with no ambiguity.

How laboratories detect fraud

Vanillin from a real bean and synthetic vanillin share the same formula, but not the same “signature”: the ratio of carbon-13 to carbon-12 differs depending on how the molecule was made. Isotope analysis can measure it, even when the taste seems perfect. Another clue: coumarin, found in the tonka bean sometimes used to imitate vanilla, does not exist in pure vanilla.

Simple checks at home

• Feel the bean: quality vanilla is supple, oily and glossy, and bends without breaking.
• Look inside: a split bean should reveal a black, sticky paste full of seeds.
• Read the label: in the European Union, “natural vanilla flavoring” means that at least 95% of the flavoring comes from vanilla. “Natural flavoring” on its own, or “vanillin,” indicates another source.
• Compare prices: vanilla that is much cheaper than the market should make you suspicious.
• Check the certification: a genuine organic certificate can be found in an official registry.

Grown organically or certified organic?

Most growers in Madagascar raise vanilla without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, often because they cannot afford them and because this delicate orchid is tended by hand. But “grown without chemicals” is not a certification. Only an inspection body can attest that each lot has been tracked, from the grower to the packaging, without being mixed with non-certified vanilla: that is what allows the use of the EU organic logo.

Our vanilla beans, vanilla powder and vanilla caviar are certified by Ecocert: you can check the certificates yourself on our certifications page.

Frequently asked questions