Slofoodgroup - Gourmet Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans - Premium Grade A Vanilla Pods - 4 oz - For Cooking, Baking, and Vanilla Extract

Very fast response. My order actually shipped in hours from when I placed it. Beans looked great. Very moist. Had a lot of paste inside. My vanilla extract is in progress so I can't comment on taste yet. I can say the vodka got dark much quicker than with the other beans I tried.

UPDATE:I am revising my review and giving SloFood Group 5 stars for explaining what happened and sending me another pack of 5 vanilla beans plus 2 more!Thank you Michelle for your sincere concern for my unhappiness and willingness to make it right.I added a new picture of the replacement vanilla beans which are moist, supple and have that familiar vanilla fragrance.I can now say that I can recommend SloFood Group for their great customer service as well as their quality product.OLD REVIEW:I received this pack of 5 grade A Madagascar vanilla beans a few days ago. I was planning to use the seeds in a recipe. However, when I opened the package the beans were brittle and couldn't be split to scrape the seeds out. In fact there was "grit" all over them. These were NOT grade A seeds and I paid a premium price for old grade B pods.This is only the 2nd time in many years that I received inferior vanilla beans. You can see in the picture that the expiration date is a year from now! If this is what Slo Food Group considers grade A then I cannot recommend this company.

I have been searching for good plump flavorful vanilla beans for my brewing addiction. Sadly the last 2 installments from other companies have been total duds or just let downs BUT these vanilla beans have renewed my faith. When they arrived I could smell them through the package. I opened them and immediately used 2 to start extracting the vanilla goodness. The beans were plump and incredibly fragrant. I scraped out the contents and placed them in a small jar of bourbon which in turn made the bourbon smell fantastic (fyi, I do not like bourbon). During the scraping I got vanilla tar under my nails. That scent stayed with my fingers for days despite soap and water on many occasions. I am sold on this company. I will keep using them as long as the beans keep turning out this way!!

We love these beans. I make my own vanilla extract for baking. I use a combination of the Madagascar and Tahitian beans. Each has it's own distinct qualities and makes the PERFECT vanilla. It has incredible aroma and flavor. It's not too sweet, it's just perfect! You just cut them into 3/4 inch pieces, but I take one bean and split it as well...add Vodka and shake a few times a week. In about 6 months you will have the most incredible vanilla you ever tasted. I'l guarantee people will wonder what you did different in your baked goods! It takes a while but it's well worth the wait and effort. Then you just add more vodka as it goes down. I keep a small bottle to put the finished stuff in so the main jar can "marinate"...

I ordered 2 packs of the 4oz. The beans I received were nice, but both packs weighed slightly under 4oz, which was a little disappointing. I know my scale is pretty accurate and I have received lots of other vanilla beans from other companies lately and the weight was right on. Overall happy with them besides the weight.

Quite literally worth the review to say "these are by far the highest quality Madagascar vanilla beans I have purchased - ever". They arrived today very long, thick and quite literally oozing with oils. They were SO incredibly fragrant!! I used these vanilla beans to chop and add to homemade tea blends, including a homemade chai tea, a fall Pu-Erh, and with black tea and juniper. They have the most delectable flavor and were FILLED with super fresh, ooey, gooey vanilla bean paste. I could not recommend these highly enough, especially for the length and size of the beans they send. FANTASTIC!!! Will be buying my vanilla beans from this seller exclusively in future.

Excellent with perfect flavor for the vanilla extract I made. I prefer grade A beans with that extra little bit of moisture. Can use beans for vanilla sugar after they’ve soaked in vodka or rum for several months for the extract. When you pull them out of the extract lots of vanilla oozes out and I like to add more of that to my vanilla extract. The flavor just bursts out the. These beans can also be ground up to make a vanilla body scrub mixed with coarse sugar or Epsom salt. These were well-packaged and very fresh.

I know nothing about vanilla beans. I cut one in half and put it into a jar of peaches as I was canning peaches. Then I tried eating one of them. It tasted very bitter and nasty, but smells great. I recommend feeding this to children or pets when they do something stupid instead of feeding them soap. Soap can cause intestinal discomfort and diarrhea, and no one wants to clean a dog's or child's liquid excrement after feeding them soap. Vanilla beans, on the other hand, just taste awful by themselves; everyone around the disgraced child or dog can have a good belly laugh, knowing that no real harm is done.