Mexican Vanilla for Baking?

I use Mexican vanilla because my mom always sends it to me. I have never noticed much of a difference but I don't have a sensitive palate. I will have to think about it next time I bake with it.

ETA - well no wonder my Mexican vanilla does not have a different taste. I just looked at the bottle and the ingredients and found it to be the fake version mentioned by the PPer! Vainilla. No actual vanilla bean is listed in the ingredients. Just water, alcohol, and artificial flavors/colors. I had to google/translate to find that out. YIKES!!

I don't use Mexican vanilla, so I don't know about a cinnamon taste, but just be aware that some of the "vanilla" extract available in Mexico isn't really vanilla at all, but an extract from the beans of the tonka tree.

"Tourists tempted to pick up bargains south of the border should beware of one bargain that isn't a good buy—a so-called “vanilla” flavoring or extract that isn’t vanilla flavoring or extract at all, but instead is made from a completely different plant material that contains coumarin. Coumarin is a substance with potential toxic side effects banned from food in the United States.

This flavoring product may smell like vanilla extract, taste like vanilla extract, and be offered at a cheap price, but it could present a significant risk to some people’s health.

Pure vanilla flavoring and extract are made with the extract of beans from the vanilla plant, a type of orchid that grows as a vine. The product containing coumarin is made from the extract of beans from the tonka tree, an entirely different plant that belongs to the pea family. Tonka bean extract contains coumarin, a compound related to warfarin, which is in some blood-thinning medications. Eating food containing coumarin may be especially risky for people taking blood-thinning drugs because the interaction of coumarin and blood thinners can increase the likelihood of bleeding."

-from the FDA website on Mexican vanilla,
http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm048613...

I use it in all my baking. My mother in law is from Mexico and always brings me back alot! I love it but I agree it has a different taste then vanilla sold here in the states.

I just finished off a bottle of Mexican Vanilla. Took me about 8 years to finish it off. I have never once thought it tasted cinnamony. How about you give him some "homemade vanilla" made by you.... maybe he'll think it's sweet/thoughtful of you. Get a bottle of the cheapest vodka. Add 3-4 long vanilla beans. Let sit for 6 months I believe. (Look up a recipe online to be sure).

I use Mexican Vanilla in my baking and no one has ever said anything about cinnamon. I don't notice it either. I brought a HUGE thing of vanilla home from Mexico last time I was there (10 years) and it was only about $2 and lasted forever. Lots better than the tiny little thing I get at the store for $10 and lasts me a month or less.
I have never heard of cinnamon in vanilla.
L.

You could gently let him know that there are also THREE other specific Vanillas that also have a unique flavor, Tahitian (which is the harder of the three to find) is much more floral in taste and I do like it for baking as well.. Additionally and probably as common as Mexican is Madagascar Vanilla... There are definitely distinct flavors although for most, subtle enough that if you were to use any one of them , they may not notice..
Williams and Sonoma usually sells a small box of ALL three.. so perhaps you can buy him one and say Dad, I know how much you like baking, therefore, I wanted you to try these other Vanillas.. Oh and too, get him some Vanilla Beans, those also add a distinct flavor.

As for Vanilla, it's added to MANY things.. however, a lot of times when it comes to store bought baked goods, they are using artificial.... and some people are more used to that than the real stuff. I would tell him it's not his baking you don't like in as much as specific ingredients.. maybe he can make you something that doesn't require Vanilla. or give those other vanillas a try..

good luck

I use Mexican vanilla in all of my baking. We love it, and our extended family and friends rave about my baked goods. I guess like others have said, it's a matter of taste. Some love it, and others don't. I go to the market in San Antonio to buy it each year.

Mexican Vanilla is coveted around here. When companies bake with it they proudly advertise that. Just like Mexican coke. It's differant, sweeter for sure. It's an aquired taste, I guess. I love it. But taste is subjective. Either you love it or hate it, I suppose.

If you tell your dad - hey I love your baking, but I don't care for Mexican Vanilla, that takes the sting out of dissing his food. It's not him you dont like, it's Mexican Vanilla.

Awe, that is too bad that you dont like it. :( but it is ok that you don't.

It does taste different,
i always try to buy some when i am there because i like it so much more! it just seems so much more intense!!

dont feel bad, ur not imagining it.

It definitely has a distinctive flavor,but I love it so it must be a personal preference thing. There must be something different about it because a friend of mine who has severe allergies, including to tree nuts and sulfites, can have regular store American vanilla, but not the Mexican vanilla.

ETA: Some of these posts prompted me to check the label on my Mexican vanilla. The listed ingredients are alcohol, water and vanilla beans. It specifically says "This product does not contain coumarin." That's a relief. To me it's not a cinnamon flavor, just very distinct and perhaps stronger.

Yep! It's an odd off flavored cinnamon to me. My MIL came back with HUGE containers of Mexican vanilla. Hubby and I weren't fans either. We just started asking my MIL what vanilla she used when she baked. When she said it was stuff she got in Mexico, we just declined the tasting offer. To me, it overtakes the cookie. She finally broke down and made cookies ,one half with her vanilla and one half with vanilla extract from here. She could then taste the difference, but unlike us, she liked them both. She eventually just stopped using the stuff from Mexico.

The main difference in the Mexican Vanilla is it has more alcohol content than what is sold in the US and it does have a more true Vanilla taste because it is fermented. .They do not add Cinnamon to it.

I have won baking contests with Mexican Vanilla.. Not once has one person said it tastes like cinnamon.. It would ruin my recipes.

Maybe your inlaws are adding cinnamon to their recipes?
Lots of recipes in Mexican baking call for it. Especially anything with Chocolate.

My mom brought us back Vanilla from Mexico. We can definitely taste the difference. It is much stronger than the usual vanilla we get in Ralphs! I use it to make home made ice cream but I don't use it for other things because the taste is so strong.

I haven't noticed any difference. I would say that dad's feelings are fine though. Just tell him you don't want one and don't force yourself to eat something you don't like.

Ask him to make the recipe once time but in half use american real vanilla, most of ours is not real. Then use the Mexican vanilla in the other half. Do a taste test and see if maybe it's just his recipe all together.

Maybe he can taste the difference that way too.

I am sure he knows it taste different than generic vanilla. I have never tasted Mexican Vanilla but now I want to. :)

Do you not like Cinnamon or is it that you are expecting one thing and get another?

Regardless most people that love to cook cook enough that they know not everyone likes it. Just tell him you don't like the flavor of Mexican Vanilla. No one would be offended that you don't like a flavor, ya know?