Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Nah ... the flecks are just flambe-flamboozle. They make it *look* like there is quality vanilla bean in it but it could just as easily be ground up, old, cheap pods disguised as vanilla beans. As you say, good quality extract is better than inferior quality beans any day.

You just want us to fight now.

As for specks - Starbucks frappuccinos have specks, i.e. they cannot possiblly convey "quality."

@Karyn

Hey...I worked for SBUX for a year...combine the vanilla powder and chocolateY chips...it's good...terrible for you, but good.

:)

I think the specs are more psychological.

I've read that the specks are often not really the little seeds from the inside of a vanilla bean; instead they are made by grinding whole vanilla pods that have been made into extract then dried.

@lawofmurphy - I worked at Starbucks for 8 months and managed to avoid everything but the tea and the plain, bold coffee! If you're lactose intolerant, dead set on avoiding HFCS, not too fond of sweets and trying to limit caffeine, Starbucks has few options. No chocolatey chips for me!

I enjoy the specks. I know it's a psychological thing--seeing the specks. But, hey, we eat with our eyes first.

I'm not sure why people say it's just a psychological thing. The specks have a texture that is pretty obvious. And since we don't blend our steaks before eating them, I'd say that those specks can make a difference.

All other things being equal (air %, ingredient list, etc) I prefer specks.

I like really yellow vanilla ice cream. I've never seen yellow with flecks. Only the pristine white with flecks. Thus, no flecks > flecks.

I don't really care if it has flecks or not. If the ice cream is good, then the ice cream is good.

Good vanilla ice cream without flecks vs. good vanilla ice cream with flecks...They are a different breed of cat so it's hard to fairly compare them side-by-side, at least in my book. Each can be satisfyingly good in its own way.

I agree with those who say that flecks don't necessarily equate quality and flavor in a vanilla ice cream.

I'm hoping for a debate about coffee ice cream. There are some really bad coffee ice creams out there and I wonder if coffee ice cream lands on the SE Team's list of classic ice cream flavors.

I work in the dairy industry and can tell you that the specks are mainly for show. Someone else mentioned that they could be ground up pods and that is essentially correct. When they make vanilla extract the pods and seeds are mashed up and soaked in ethanol to extract the flavor components. Once the extract is removed, the pods and seeds are dried and ground further to make the specks. There may be some residual flavor in the specks but not much. An ice cream manufacturer will buy those specks from a vanilla supplier by the boxful and add them to the ice cream along with extract to get the flavor.

A better indicator of quality is whether the flavor is vanilla extract only since that is a defined flavoring. If the label says vanilla and other natural flavors, that means the flavor company has padded out the natural vanilla with additional natural flavor components to tweak the profile. And, of course, when the labels starts talking about artifical flavor and vanillin, walk away.

I don't think so. Actually, I tried the Green & Black vanilla pictured in the post, and it was good of course, but not amazing.

Breyers vanilla bean!