During this holiday season, vanilla is a staple in kitchens – a perfect natural ingredient to put your baking skills to practice. It’s an all-fun preparation until you catch some odd appearance of your bulk vanilla beans. It turns out that rows of moldy and dried-out vanilla beans in bulk are sitting in your kitchen inventory. But wait, don’t rush to toss out your moldy or dry bulk vanilla beans. They can return refreshed with some treats.
A Way to Get Rid of Vanilla Beans’ Mold in Your Bulk Vanilla Beans
Before doing a fix on your damaged vanilla beans in bulk, it’s wise to observe your vanilla beans’ conditions first. Some people mistakenly differentiate vanilla beans’ molds and vanillin crystals. If you smell an unpleasant aroma and see a fluffy-powdery substance, that’s undoubtedly vanilla beans’ mold. On the flip side, vanillin crystal looks like a white-colored crystal-like substance, which is a good sign. Instead of damaged vanilla beans, vanillin crystal indicates that your vanilla beans are superior quality (plus, it’s edible!).
After checking the bulk vanilla beans’ appearance, check how many vanilla beans are infected. If the mold has not contaminated all the vanilla beans, you can breathe easily. You can still save your bulk vanilla beans. To remove the molds, gently wipe the moldy vanilla beans with a paper towel. Then, wipe again with a wet cloth moistened with a high-proof alcohol (alcoholic beverage containing more than 60% alcohol). Last, let your vanilla beans dry and separate from uninfected vanilla beans. Voila, your vanilla beans in bulk are ready for baking use!
However, things will be different if the molds reappear or spread on the vanilla beans’ surface and grow inside the pods. That remarks the end of your vanilla beans in bulk. If the molds are too severe, the bulk vanilla beans can’t be saved anymore.
A Guide to Rehydrate Your Bulk Vanilla Beans
There are visible signs that you’ll notice when your vanilla beans in bulk are dried out: It looks wrinkled and fragile. To rehydrate the vanilla beans, soak the bulk vanilla beans in a container with warm water for 30 minutes. Another way, you can pour the warm milk or cream into the vanilla beans in bulk. After some time, your dried vanilla beans will return to their plumpness and become bendable.
However, if the vanilla beans are not plump yet, re-do the steps above until you get the desired result. You can soak the vanilla beans in bulk overnight for different types of implementation. Unfortunately, this method may not always work for over-dried vanilla beans. If this happens, turn the dried bulk vanilla beans into vanilla bean powder instead and reuse them for your recipes!
How to Prevent Your Bulk Vanilla Beans from Re-Molding or Re-Drying
Proper storage is the key to controlling vanilla beans in bulk from re-molding or re-drying. First, you need to wrap each of the vanilla beans with wax paper. Then, place your bulk vanilla beans in an airtight container. The choice may vary from glass vials with tight-fitting lids, zipper bags, or food sealers.
Put the bulk vanilla bean container in a dry place far away from direct sunlight. Furthermore, never refrigerate your bulk vanilla beans. It’ll cause excessive moisture on vanilla beans in bulk and push the molds to reappear.
Where to Buy Wholesale Vanilla Beans in the United States?
Not all damage can be refreshed by treatments. If there’s no way to save your damaged vanilla beans, it’s worth purchasing the freshest one. Baked goods need concentrated vanilla flavor. Hence, purchasing vanilla beans in bulk for your business will help you to satisfy the palates of vanilla lovers.
Essence Food & Beverage, LLC, provides you with the freshest wholesale vanilla beans directly from the source. Our vanilla beans in bulk are hand-picked by our dedicated farmers, hand-sorted to remove damaged vanilla beans, and delivered at the peak of freshness with our fast delivery.
Bake a bulk load of baked goods with fresh vanilla beans only so you can get concentrated vanilla-flavored bakery and pastry. Buy vanilla beans wholesale or request a quote for vanilla beans in bulk order here.