Taking A Deep Dive Into The Power Of Vanilla With Salt & Straw Founder

Known for its ever-changing rainbow of inventive flavors, this Portland, Ore., based ice creamery also shines a well-deserved light on vanilla in a recently re-launched cookbook. We got the scoop from founder Tyler Malek about his enthusiasm for that not-so-basic flavor.
When Salt & Straw launched in 2011, its mission was groundbreaking. Calling itself 'the biggest small-batch ice cream company in the world', Salt & Straw founder Tyler Malek and his cousin, Kim, cooked up the business plan over a cup of coffee. Of course.
In the book's intro, he writes of the fairy tale-type origin story: "I had just quit my job as the world's kindest and least effective car salesman (don't ask) and convinced Kim to consider me for the position of head ice cream maker for the shop she planned to open in Portland. Minor detail: I had never made ice cream in my entire life. So an hour later, I walked into a Goodwill in Seattle, bought four $4 ice cream makers, and started experimenting.
After a week of maxing out the machines, I had recipes for thirty flavors and sent them to Kim. Because of (or perhaps despite) the unlikely inspirations I dreamt up—grapefruit with sage, coffee with bone marrow—she agreed to give me a shot."
Coffee with bone marrow? Yes, those kind of crazy combos have garnered a whole lot of attention in the nearly 15 years since the Salt & Straw launch.
But it's the chapter on vanilla that steals the show in this inspiring, deeply informative cookbook co-authored with James Beard Award-winning food writer JJ Goode.
Malek is a self-described flavor nerd and it all begins with vanilla. 'I love the idea of using something people think of boring as jumping off point,' he said in a recent phone interview. Because, let's face it, the majority of most ice cream is vanilla based. 'It's so under-appreciated, but maybe that's because we all grew up with artificial vanilla flavoring.'
The chapter on vanilla explores the bean's beginnings as a commercial crop. 'There was a lot of frustration in trying to grow the pods without fruiting them until one kid, an enslaved person, figured out what a native bean was doing.'
By the way, there are 220 flavor compounds in vanilla. Far from boring.
For Malek, his vanilla curiosity was piqued when he connected with a geneticist working on project to bring vanilla production to Florida. 'Hawaii has had success growing vanilla and building agritourism around it,' he said.
Turning back the clock to the bean's early appearances in this country, the government mandated that just two types would be allowed as imports, Tahitian and Madagascar. But the rules weren't strictly enforced and those designations were watered down.
The key to growing quality vanilla is time, the plants develop complexity and depth of flavor as they age. A process that's similar to vinifera grapes, with the plants picking up characteristics of the soils and surroundings. In wine tasting terms, that's called terroir.
Like wine, coffee and chocolate, there's a new effort to highlight the growing practices used in production of vanilla beans, Malek said. 'There are new efforts to designate how it's sourced. Fair trade is better for the economy.'
And beans that are grown using sustainable agricultural practices ultimately leads to better-tasting vanilla. But let's not forget about all those amusing flavors from the brilliant creators that keep Salt & Straw in the must-try ice cream conversation.
If you're fortunate enough to live near a Salt & Straw scoop shop, there's a good chance you're going to hit it on a new flavor drop Friday. Hello, Summer Pie series! Including a Gruyère and Tomato Tart creation.
But even if you're nowhere nearby, the producer also offers up the option of home delivery across the U.S. Also, Malek will be making appearances during a book tour, with dates coming right up in at various venues around Los Angeles, June 14-22.

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