Baked Rice Pudding
Creamy milk-and-rice pudding with an unevenly browned top, chilled in individual oven-safe bowls.
The Turkish pantry
Vanilla extract
A concentrated liquid flavoring for sweet dishes; distinguish extract from vanilla sugar, paste and imitation flavoring.
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This guide concerns vanilla extract, a liquid flavoring made from vanilla. Common pure extracts contain alcohol and water. Vanilla sugar, vanilla paste, whole beans and imitation vanilla flavorings have different compositions; read the label when a recipe calls for extract.
Types & forms
Liquid vanilla extract
The ingredient described here. Product concentration and added ingredients can differ.
Vanilla bean paste · comparison
Often contains seeds and a thickener or sweetener; it is not simply extract with a new name.
Vanilla sugar or imitation flavoring · comparison
Check ingredients and the maker’s conversion advice rather than substituting the same spoonful.
What to look for when buying
- Look for a culinary product labeled vanilla extract and read the ingredient list. Check whether it contains alcohol, added sugar or other flavorings when those details matter to your cooking.
- Choose a bottle you can close tightly. Color alone does not establish vanilla species, origin, concentration or quality.
Prepare & cook
- Measure the small quantity specified by the recipe; more extract is not automatically better. Mix it in at the step given for the batter, cream or pudding.
- Do not assume cooking removes every trace of alcohol. If an alcohol-free product is needed, choose one labeled for that requirement and use an appropriate recipe.
Store it well
- Keep tightly closed in a cool, dry cupboard away from direct light and the cooker. Follow the producer’s guidance for that formulation.
- Prevent steam, water or food from entering the bottle. Do not assign the storage life of pure extract to a sweetened paste or another vanilla product.
Substitutions depend on the dish
Vanilla bean or paste
Use the producer’s supported equivalence and allow for any sugar or thickener. The texture and appearance may change.
Vanilla sugar
It adds sugar as well as flavor. Use a recipe that includes it rather than replacing extract volume-for-volume.
Nutrition
Vanilla extract [1]
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 288 kcal |
| Protein | 0.06 g |
| Total fat | 0.06 g |
| Saturated fat | 0.01 g |
| Carbohydrate | 12.6 g |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g |
| Total sugars | 12.6 g |
| Sodium | 9 mg |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Calcium | 11 mg |
| Iron | 0.12 mg |
| Potassium | 148 mg |
| Vitamin D | 0 µg |
Generic vanilla extract reference per 100 g, not a usual portion. This alcohol-containing extract is not an alcohol-free flavoring or vanilla sugar; brands differ. The values do not describe extract after cooking. Values are rounded for readability; “not reported” does not mean zero. A “<” value is below the source’s measurement limit.
Nutrition values come from the reference source named above. They are published reference values, not our own measurements. Actual products and cooking methods may change the values.
At the Turkish table
Vanilla is one flavoring used in the linked recipe collection. The guide makes no claim that a particular extract, vanilla species or growing country is required for Turkish cooking.
Cook with Vanilla extract