Jessica Badalana

I mean, truly, it is.

So, you know, when you think about all that, you're like, well...

No wonder like vanilla and vanilla extract, vanilla beans, vanilla extract are really expensive.

So right now, I mean, when I last checked, I don't know if it's like how much it varies day to day, but a kilo, so 2.2 pounds of vanilla bean pods, Madagascar grown vanilla bean pods is going to run you about 300 bucks.

And, you know, I think a little vanilla does go a long way, like a little real vanilla, but not as far as you'd think.

And so, of course, like, now there is a robust...

secondary vanilla production, which is artificial vanilla.

Because true vanilla is so expensive that, you know, given our, like, worldwide appetite for vanilla and the flavor of vanilla, like, we can't keep up.

Like, there just simply is not enough true vanilla in the world to satisfy the world's desire.

Yeah, that's right.

There we go again.

I'm just setting you up with these words.

Ah, petrochemicals.

Yes.

It's much, much less expensive.

I mean...

There's some irony here, right?

Like vanilla is, as I said at the top of the show, supposed to be like the most basic, boring flavor.

Yet our collective desire for things flavored like vanilla is, and also I should say scented like vanilla, is so great.

That it just, like, vastly outpaces the amount of natural vanilla that we can produce.