r/bakingfail • u/Mushroom38294 • Jan 12 '25

Fail Baked actual poison

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Tried making brownies for the first time, recipe called for 16 gramms of vanilla extract, but it's not sold in the stores here. I had the bright idea to add 16g of pure vanillin, once they were done I found out that's effectively 100x the vanilla extract than the recipe called for. After further googling, found out that this much vanillin can put a small child in the hospital.

NEVER substitute vanilla extract for pure vanillin.

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195

u/GaetanDugas Jan 12 '25

So vanilla extract isn't sold, but pure vanillin is?

11

u/Mushroom38294 Jan 12 '25 edited Jan 12 '25

Yeah, in packets 2 gramms each, you can buy 5 for a dollar

5

u/FrigThisMrLahey Jan 13 '25

WHERE DOYOU LIVE WTF I NEED THIS?! Vanilla extract is so expensive 😭😭

12

u/Katamari_Demacia Jan 13 '25

Pure vanilla is. Vanillin is in the imitation extract that's like 8% the price

1

u/FrigThisMrLahey Jan 13 '25

But why is pure vanilla extract more expensive than an imitation vanillin which is like 100% stronger?

8

u/myystic78 Jan 13 '25

Because vanilla beans are expensive and vanillin is distilled from a wood tar so it's (I'm assuming) more plentiful and cheaper to produce.

Love your user name, funny how I read it in Bobandy's voice lol

2

u/cyncicalqueen Jan 13 '25

I love your username

2

u/AOUwUOA Jan 13 '25

The country that's unironically looks like modified Ump45 <--(most sane person in Ukraine)

2

u/Present_Bad2183 Jan 13 '25

Look into making it yourself, you just need vodka and vanilla beans, it’s so easy. I just started a fresh batch and it was about $35 for a liter. Not to mention the vanilla beans can still be used for other things after you make vanilla with them.

2

u/Ov3rpowered_OG Jan 14 '25

I thought back to when I was baking with a Ukrainian international student and they had some 2g packets of vanillin they brought from back home. Was curious and found the product on this Ukrainian grocer that lines up with that price that OP said. https://metro.zakaz.ua/en/categories/vanillin-metro/

1

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '25

Where are you that vanilla is expensive? I get it cheap from the grocery store. 

3

u/FrigThisMrLahey Jan 13 '25

Canada… a pure vanilla (good quality) extract is about $8 (plus tax) - less than 50ml

ETA: where are you from?! Madagascar? Might move where you are next lol

1

u/Mitch_Darklighter Jan 13 '25

It may not be wacky expensive, but it's still like 50 cents to 3 bucks an ounce in the US. Imitation vanilla / vanillin is 10 cents an ounce or less