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Herbs & spices

Vanilla

Vanilla planifolia

Vanilla is a spice used as pods and seeds, and sold whole or as extract or powder. Cooks bake with it or infuse it, pairing it with chocolate, caramel, or coffee.

  • Plant-based
  • Gluten-free
  • No listed allergens

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Part used
Pod, seed
Family
Orchidaceae
Cooked most in
Asia, Africa
Top country
Indonesia
Vanilla, whole

Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use vanilla

Typical ways to cook or use it

  • Bake
  • Infuse

Preparing it

Split pods before adding them to liquid for a stronger aroma.

Goes well with

Shopping

Choosing and storing vanilla

Choosing a good one

For highly graded whole pods, look for dark, plump, oily beans without blemishes. A higher visual grade does not guarantee a stronger flavor.

Sold as
Extract, Powder, Whole

Around the world

Where vanilla is cooked

25 dishes in the catalogue use vanilla. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list vanilla among their ingredients.

Origins

Native to
Mexico, Caribbean, South America

  1. The 1520s · Europe

    Hernán Cortés is credited with bringing vanilla to Europe in the 1520s.

  2. The 1700s · France

    French cooks used vanilla in ice cream during the 18th century.

  3. 1819 · Réunion and Mauritius

    French entrepreneurs sent vanilla fruits to Réunion and Mauritius for cultivation.

On the table

Dishes made with vanilla

22 of the 25 catalogued dishes that use it, spread across the countries they come from.

  • Bakpia

    China, Indonesia

  • Molen banana

    Indonesia

  • Banana Breakfast Cookies

    Africa

  • Sari pengantin

    Indonesia

  • Gandasturi

    Indonesia

  • Kue muso

    Indonesia

  • Leker Cake

    Indonesia

  • Lontar cake

    Indonesia

  • Putri noong

    Indonesia

  • Barongko pisang

    Indonesia

  • Colenak

    Indonesia

  • Jenang kudus

    Indonesia

  • Kelemben

    Indonesia

  • Kue lumpur

    Indonesia

  • Pallu butung

    Indonesia

  • Getuk pisang

    Indonesia

  • Kue putu mayang

    Indonesia

  • Bhoi

    Indonesia

  • Getuk

    Indonesia

  • Getuk Goreng

    Indonesia

  • Janda berenang

    Indonesia

  • Kue satu

    Indonesia

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include vanilla.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: vanilla in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.
Allergens
None of the 15 listed allergens foundChecked and not found: soy, eggs, fish, milk, lupin, wheat, celery, sesame, mustard, peanuts, molluscs, sulphites, tree nuts, crustaceans, gluten cereals.
Animal origin
No animal ingredients foundChecked and not found: egg, fish, meat, dairy, honey, insect, gelatin, poultry, bone char, shellfish, other animal, animal fining, animal rennet.
Gluten
None
Alcohol
None
Caffeine
None
Pork
None

Cooked together

Ingredients that go into the same catalogued dishes.
Photo credits for this page (11)

Around the world

What vanilla is called

Names in 78 languages, from Wikidata.

  • Spanish

    vainilla

  • French

    vanille

  • Italian

    vaniglia

  • Portuguese

    baunilha

  • German

    Vanille · Gewürzvanille · Bourbon-Vanille · Vanilla fragrans

  • Dutch

    vanille

  • Greek

    Βανίλια

  • Turkish

    vanilya

  • Russian

    ваниль

  • Polish

    laska wanilii · wanilia

  • Arabic

    فانيليا

  • Persian

    وانیل

Show all 78 languages

  • Afrikaans

    Vanielje

  • Albanian

    Vanilja

  • Armenian

    վանիլ

  • Asturian

    vainilla

  • Azerbaijani

    Vanil

  • Basque

    banilla · banilla likido

  • Belarusian (Taraskievica orthography)

    ваніль

  • Brazilian Portuguese

    Baunilha

  • Breton

    vanilha

  • Burmese

    ဗနီလာပင်

  • Cantonese

    雲呢拿

  • Catalan

    vainilla

  • Cebuano

    Baynilya

  • Cherokee

    ᏩᏁᎳ

  • Chinese

    香草 · 香荚兰

  • Croatian

    Vanilija

  • Czech

    vanilka

  • Danish

    vanilje

  • Egyptian Arabic

    ڤانيليا

  • Esperanto

    vanilo

  • Estonian

    Vanilje

  • Fijian

    Vanila

  • Finnish

    vanilja

  • Galician

    vainilla

  • Guarani

    Tyru'i

  • Haitian Creole

    Vaniy

  • Hebrew

    וניל

  • Hindi

    वैनिला

  • Hungarian

    vanília

  • Icelandic

    Vanilla

  • Ido

    Vanilo

  • Indonesian

    vanili

  • Irish

    fanaile

  • Japanese

    バニラ · バニラビーンズ

  • Javanese

    Panili

  • Kannada

    ವನಿಲಾ

  • Kazakh

    Ваниль

  • Korean

    바닐라

  • Latin

    vanilla

  • Latvian

    vaniļa

  • Lithuanian

    Vanilė

  • Macedonian

    Ванила

  • Malagasy

    Vanila

  • Malay

    vanila

  • Malay (Arabic)

    ۏانيلا

  • Minangkabau

    Vanila

  • Norwegian Bokmål

    vanilje

  • Norwegian Nynorsk

    vanilje · vaniljearoma · vaniljesmak

  • Romanian

    vanilie

  • Romany

    Vanilla

  • Serbian

    ванила

  • Serbian (Latin)

    Vanilija

  • Sindhi

    ونيلا

  • Slovak

    Vanilka pravá

  • Slovenian

    vanilja · vanilija

  • Swedish

    vanilj

  • Tamil

    வெனிலா

  • Thai

    วานิลลา

  • Tibetan

    དྲི་ཞིམ་ལྡན་པའི་རྩྭ།

  • Tongan

    Vanila

  • Tuvinian

    Ваниль

  • Ukrainian

    ваніль

  • Upper Sorbian

    Prawa wanilija

  • Urdu

    ونیلا

  • Uzbek

    Vanil

  • Vietnamese

    va ni · va-ni · vani

  • Welsh

    fanila

  • Western Panjabi

    ونیلا

Sources and credits

Data

  • GlobeCooks editorial: descriptions, kitchen notes and classification, written by GlobeCooks from checked sources
  • Wikidata: names, classification and dishes (CC0 1.0)
  • Wikimedia Commons: photos
  • Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wikidata item: Q13241

Photos

Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons