Buying Vanilla at Eastern Ports

[hues of blue]

We have gotton vanilla several times on the western cruises and at a very good price. We will be on the Liberty next week and was wondering if anyone has found a deal in the eastern ports? We will be in San Juan, St Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, and Nassau. We have paid less then a dollar for a 20 oz bottle in Roatan. I appreciate any help you may be able to give me.

[jessemon]

We have gotton vanilla several times on the western cruises and at a very good price. We will be on the Liberty next week and was wondering if anyone has found a deal in the eastern ports? We will be in San Juan, St Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, and Nassau. We have paid less then a dollar for a 20 oz bottle in Roatan. I appreciate any help you may be able to give me.

You can make your own. it is just two vanilla beans split lengthwise and scrape the centers. Place in a pint bottle of vodka and let sit 60 to 90 days. It is more expensive than the store bought stuff you buy in the stores (and the Caribben) but it is real and the flavor is wonderful........;)

[angelsfort]

you should be careful of buying Vanilla in foreign countries... just the other day I saw Alton Brown (from Good Eats, on the Food Network) discussing vanilla, in it's many forms.

 

He said that some manufacturers use a "filler" that has a similar flavor of Vanilla in their extract... and sometimes that filler is potentially hazardous to people.

[belle907]

When buying vanilla in Mexico I always make sure it says "DOES NOT CONTAIN COUMARIN". I believe that is what the medication cumodin (sp?) is devired from. You will pay a little more for the labeled vanilla but it is worth it and it is very good. If you can find the vanilla powder I recommend picking that up as well, but it is hard to fin on the east coast of Mexico.