Plain Vanilla

I have met perhaps two people whose favorite flavor of ice cream is vanilla. I have met so many more whose is chocolate. Those who are fans of vanilla, when asked about their flavor tend to be a bit apologetic. Has anyone else noticed this? Why apologize? It seems obvious to me: Vanilla is Plain.

It is even in our common parlance: “plain vanilla.” Is it “plain” because things with vanilla in them tend to be white? Why is that? Why is that the color that we associate with vanilla? Well, certainly ice cream is where it starts - for me, at least. Any tasty treat that I know of which has “vanilla” in its name is predominantly, if not completely, white. Vanilla extract, though, is kind of brown. If I understand vanilla origins correctly, brown is the color of the dried vanilla bean. (It is green prior to drying out.) The vanilla flower can be white, green, greenish yellow, or cream. So who chose white?

Now, I can see where “white” and “plain” can go together. I think that is really what the connection is. But why are “vanilla” and “white” so linked, and thus the supposed plainness of vanilla? Personally, if I ate brown-colored vanilla ice cream, I think it would taste amazing. I really like the flavor of vanilla. This summer I made several batches of my own “Orange Julius” with my new blender. The ingredients: ice, water, orange juice concentrate, vanilla ice cream, vanilla extract. When I make this, as when I make just about anything that calls for vanilla extract, I usually double the amount of extract, at least. The way that the pungent vanilla flavor hits me makes me want to have more.

I’ll admit it - I Love Vanilla Flavor. But I still think vanilla ice cream is plain. I can’t get over that for some reason. Is vanilla ice cream “plain” because its flavor goes so well with so many other things? Think about all the toppings that we would put on vanilla, but which might not go so well on other flavors. And how about vanilla ice cream accompanying other sweets: pie, cake, and the like? I think that makes vanilla somewhat versatile and universal. Does that make it plain?

What would life be like if whoever picked the color for vanilla had chosen brown? I read a review of a book about vanilla on Amazon.com, where it stated that Cortes and his troops became aware of vanilla and chocolate at about the same time, and introduced them to Europeans. I wonder if the colors associated with these two flavors were also “picked” around the same time. What if the color for chocolate had been white, and vanilla had been brown? I have actually opened a live cacao pod and the seeds inside are encased in a gooey white mess. And given the brownness of the vanilla bean, it certainly seems like it could have come out this way.

Would we now be calling the simple, boring choice a “plain chocolate” one?

I think that the association of plainness with vanilla comes, without question, from its whiteness. That, and the fact that vanilla is so plentiful. I mean, if vanilla were really had to come by, I wonder if it would still be “plain,” even if it were also white. If it were rare, would it still be white?

There’s something to ponder . . .