David Tamarkin

Welcome to Things Bakers Know.

It's been such a long time that I've wanted you to be on this podcast, my friend.

You are one of the world's biggest vanilla fans.

When I texted you and asked what you thought about vanilla, you said, name a better flavor.

Just name one.

What

But do you feel like, do you ever taste things that are vanilla, like the cake or whatever you taste a vanilla cupcake say, and you think to yourself, actually, this is bland and boring.

This does not have enough vanilla flavor.

Do you think people are using enough vanilla in their baked goods?

Can you describe what vanilla tastes like?

And I think this is a tricky question, but I'm going to throw it to you anyway.

Can you describe it?

How would you describe it to somebody who has never had it?

Yeah.

I mean, I think you did a great job, but I also love that you called out the spiciness and that you called out that it can be aggressive because there have been moments, especially when I bake with vanilla beans, that I feel like, oh, I've overdone it.

Like it can get very intense and it's a strong flavor.

It's the opposite of what the reputation is, right?

It can be very strong and very not vanilla.

I think it could be sort of like a bully of a flavor if you overdo it.

What do you think?