10 Pack Gourmet Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans

I'm giving these 4 stars instead of 5 because the packaging was AWFUL. It was easy to open, nothing was damaged, but the plastic that was used smelled terrible, and I was extremely concerned about the flavor of these. As it turned out, they're great. I switched them out into another bag as soon as I got them, and wound up not needing to use them for a month or so, by that point the smell had bled out of the plastic bag and into my cabinet; a very pleasant and pungent vanilla fragrance. I've used these to give a little extra flavor to cookies, to make vanilla whipped cream, vanilla scones with a vanilla glaze, and homemade vanilla ice cream. The flavor is really quite good for the price, and the beans were plump. Compared to my choices at my local grocery story, these were more fresh and bigger.

These vanilla beans are wonderful. I bought them for making a homemade vanilla extract. While it is a little more expensive than buying vanilla from the store I think the quality and flavor is worth it. I added all ten beans (cut in half and scraped out, adding the paste to the vodka as well) to a fifth of vodka split in to 2 mason jars. I gave half of it to one of my teachers who wanted to try some. I did a lot of looking around before I bought these, as I didn't want to pay a lot for beans, and these are the best price-to-quality ratio you will get anywhere. It's been a long time since I've bought these and my vanilla has already run out, so I can say that the extract I made from it was fantastic. I used it mainly for frozen desserts and whipped cream, where I felt it would make a difference. For cookies and cakes I used my store bought vanilla.

I put all 10 of these in a fifth of vodka shortly after getting them in the mail and already extract has a beautiful aroma to it. I'm going to let it sit for another month, for a total of five, before you start to harvest the extract and add additional vodka to get the full stretch out of these beans. I will probably never buy store bought vanilla extract again when it is so easy to just buy 10 beans, A fifth of cheap vodka and just put them together in a dark closet for 5-6 months. In the long run, ounce per ounce it's cheaper too and a much more superior quality.

I used these when homebrewing beer to make a vanilla cream ale which came out great. I split lengthwise and soaked 5 beans in vodka for a couple of weeks while the beer was in the primary and then added everything to the 5 gallon keg out of which the beer was served in a small hop bag. That added just the right amount of vanilla flavor and aroma which was not overpowering at all. I served it at a party and got lots of compliments. I will definitely be brewing this recipe again and will use these same beans when I do.

First time working with the bean itself. Have no comparison point, but it arrived properly packed and showed no signs of mold or exposure.Beans were fragrant and had plenty of oil. Made great vanilla sugar, and successfully flavored the cream that I needed to make creme brûlée. There are probably better beans available, but these more than met my expectations.

I had 9 out of 10 fresh beans. The 10th was semi-dry, but when I cut into it had a wonderful scent as the completely bendable ones.I used these for making vanilla extract, so am pleased that I was able to get so many beans for the low cost.I do not know, if the beans will stay fresh in the bag shipped in, if you only need a few at a time.

Came in a nice sealed bag. The only issue I had mainly because I'm picky is that two of the beans were starting to dry on the ends. Nothing terrible for what I needed them for. (Made vanilla extract). Will be ordering them again!

Beans are nice & moist, however I do not like the fact that they do not come in a vacuum sealed bag.. Makes me worry that they'll dry out