A favorite at Milk Street, this vanilla paste has deep, concentrated vanilla flavor. Made from vine-ripened Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans grown in the tropical South Pacific, Heilala’s paste is a combination of three-month cold-extracted vanilla extract mixed with vanilla bean seeds. Every bean used in Heilala’s production is hand-picked by farmers in Tonga. It works beautifully as an easy-to-use alternative to vanilla beans with stronger, more pure flavor than extract—one teaspoon is equivalent to one bean, without the waste or mess of attempting to scrape out seeds. Beyond superlative vanilla flavor, this paste has a sweet floral aroma, fruity and warm spiced notes and dark vanilla seeds, which add a beautiful speckle to baked goods and desserts.
Harvested from the only fruit-bearing orchids in the world, vanilla comes from four categories of origin: Mexican (the original home of vanilla), Madagascar bourbon, Tahitian and Indonesian. Over 300 years ago, the French brought cuttings of Mexican vanilla to Madagascar, developing the creamy and rich varietal most popularly found today.
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Try this vanilla paste in any sweet or savory recipe that calls for vanilla, like our Sweet Potato Gratin with Vanilla Bean and Bay Leaves. For easy conversions between types of vanilla—beans, powder, paste and extract—see our post.
Heilala, a small vanilla maker based in New Zealand, partners with farmers and families in Tonga, who cultivate, hand-select and harvest every vanilla bean that goes into their products. Heilala was founded after Cyclone Waka devastated parts of Tonga in 2002. Father-daughter co-founders John Ross and Jennifer Boggiss set up a vanilla farm to bring employment opportunities to the island of Vava’u. Heilala puts sustainability and equitable labor practices at the heart of their entire supply chain and production process.
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