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Bracing for the Vanilla Boom

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Re: Bracing for the Vanilla Boom

#61

Post by orbifold »

oh_sigh wrote: post #13
olliej wrote: post #10

This is a super neat article. I do wonder if some of the big asset purchases (the motorbike example) are also to act as a non-bank money store? Much easier to lock up a bike than a pile of money, etc.

Yes, this is quite common around the world where there aren't banking institutions or if the local currency is too untrustworthy to hold for longer periods of time. I have relatives in eastern Turkey that have been perpetually building one house or another in a piecemeal fashion(a wall here, a wall there, etc), as money comes in, for the past 40+ years.

That piecemeal house building is also a great way to dodge property taxes and other taxes (income from black labor), as you only pay for finished houses and the contractors in cash at least in some countries. The phenomenon is very common in Arab cities in Israel as well.

Re: Bracing for the Vanilla Boom

#62

Post by olefoo »

ravenstine wrote: post #56
olefoo wrote: post #18

This is a pretty fascinating article even though it is frustratingly superficial. It seems like there are a bunch of different threads here that would benefit from exploration; the behavioral economics thread; the anthropology thread, the climate change thread ( notice how weather has changed the price repeatedly in the article ), and the producer/consumer disjunction thread. Maybe the author should do some more fiel…

> People with a sudden access of money will often splurge on bizarre displays of wealth, sports cars and motorcycles, fancy clothing they rarely wear; etc. Often not because they have a long-held desire for the toys they are buying but because they have a cultural template of what wealth and success should look like that they are trying to act out. It's astounding that many people still aren't self-aware enough to re…

There are a number of confounding factors, class and education for instance. It can be hard to be rational about large amounts of money especially if most of your socialization around finances comes from advertising that explicitly pushes a consumerist mindset on you.

Re: Bracing for the Vanilla Boom

#63

Post by moate »

peterwwillis wrote: post #19
Blackthorn wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm actually surprised by how good the wood pulp version tastes. Unless I'm buying straight up vanilla ice cream, I don't mind the wood pulp version of vanilla at all. If it's vanilla with stuff mixed into it, I won't really be able to tell the difference.

I bought a bottle of synthetic and a bottle of organic real vanilla extract recently, and did a taste/smell test. The synthetic smelled and tasted like vanilla-flavored motor oil and rubbing alcohol. It was terrible, and cheap, and plentiful. I can't imagine what I could use it in to mask that chemical flavor. Ugh.

You drank straight vanilla extract? This seems like determining how good a cake will be by eating raw flour.

Re: Bracing for the Vanilla Boom

#64

Post by duxup »

ceejayoz wrote: post #58
ravenstine wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People with a sudden access of money will often splurge on bizarre displays of wealth, sports cars and motorcycles, fancy clothing they rarely wear; etc. Often not because they have a long-held desire for the toys they are buying but because they have a cultural template of what wealth and success should look like that they are trying to act out. It's astounding that many people still aren't self-aware enough to re…

> It's astounding that many people still aren't self-aware enough to realize this and take appropriate action when they gain a lot of wealth. Who says they're not self-aware? The article explicitly mentions it's unsafe to take the large amounts of cash traveling, which it notes "are usually a day’s trek away". It's not uncommon for developing-world banks to be untrustworthy, as well. Spending it instead of having it…

Wouldn't lavishly spending it still be an issue as you're likely to stand out / be targeted?

Let alone that stealing stuff might not be as convenient as cash, but still desirable...

Re: Bracing for the Vanilla Boom

#66

Post by peterwwillis »

moate wrote: post #63
peterwwillis wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a bottle of synthetic and a bottle of organic real vanilla extract recently, and did a taste/smell test. The synthetic smelled and tasted like vanilla-flavored motor oil and rubbing alcohol. It was terrible, and cheap, and plentiful. I can't imagine what I could use it in to mask that chemical flavor. Ugh.

You drank straight vanilla extract? This seems like determining how good a cake will be by eating raw flour.

The aromas and flavors of vanilla extract are exactly what you will taste in your finished product. They don't really transform into anything, the ethanol and water just evaporate and leave you with the dissolved solids from the bean. Tasting it in raw or extract form tells you what it'll taste like in a finished product.

Flour, on the other hand, varies greatly in its end result based on the genetic variant, grade quality, and milling, in combination with amount of water and the mechanical process of mixing. You can determine the effect on the cake by looking at the type and grade of flour, along with its moisture content. I wouldn't advise eating it.

Re: Bracing for the Vanilla Boom

#67

Post by moate »

peterwwillis wrote: post #66
moate wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You drank straight vanilla extract? This seems like determining how good a cake will be by eating raw flour.

The aromas and flavors of vanilla extract are exactly what you will taste in your finished product. They don't really transform into anything, the ethanol and water just evaporate and leave you with the dissolved solids from the bean. Tasting it in raw or extract form tells you what it'll taste like in a finished product. Flour, on the other hand, varies greatly in its end result based on the genetic variant, grade q…

I don't think that's how food chemistry works.

The vanilla is going to interact with hundreds of volatile compounds during cooking while going through chemical changes. These things change the overall flavor. There's so many different things that can change how the end flavor comes through. Time and time again, it's been shown that the real vs fake vanilla thing doesn't matter for more complex foods (read: baked goods where maillard reactions are going to be common and the volatile aromatics present in real vanilla get destroyed)

{1}https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/real-vanilla-extrac... {2}https://www.cooksillustrated.com/taste_tests/455-vanilla-ext...

From- a reformed professional chef.

Re: Bracing for the Vanilla Boom

#68

Post by pbhjpbhj »

adrianN wrote: post #54
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Destroyed? Broken down to other chemicals, surely. Or are we cooking at 10000K.

"Excuse me, but your house wasn't destroyed in the fire, it was merely broken down to other chemicals. Your insurance only covers destruction of property."

Lol; but if you were tasting the house then the materials will still affect the flavour despite having been burnt.

Re: Bracing for the Vanilla Boom

#69

Post by pbhjpbhj »

barry-cotter wrote: post #52
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or buy most of crop that is the right size for market demand. Will people pay 5p more for a chocolate bar instead of going without, for sure. So, buy all the chocolate. If there's no one else to buy from and you have no morals then you've won. I think someone did this with a large portion (several tenths) of the [European?] cocoa bean supply.

That’s really, really difficult. You’re relying on no one else figuring out what you’re doing and exploiting that knowledge. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Thursday Silver Thursday was an event that occurred in the United States in the silver commodity markets on Thursday, March 27, 1980, following the Hunt brothers' attempt at cornering the silver market. A subsequent steep fall in silver prices led to panic…

It seems that the Hunts were nobbled, the changes to the rules they were trading under, the federal reserve instructing banks not to lend them money, etc.?

http://web.pdx.edu/~jjackson/HuntSilver.html is a useful synopsis.

Re: Bracing for the Vanilla Boom

#70

Post by peterwwillis »

moate wrote: post #67
peterwwillis wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The aromas and flavors of vanilla extract are exactly what you will taste in your finished product. They don't really transform into anything, the ethanol and water just evaporate and leave you with the dissolved solids from the bean. Tasting it in raw or extract form tells you what it'll taste like in a finished product. Flour, on the other hand, varies greatly in its end result based on the genetic variant, grade q…

I don't think that's how food chemistry works. The vanilla is going to interact with hundreds of volatile compounds during cooking while going through chemical changes. These things change the overall flavor. There's so many different things that can change how the end flavor comes through. Time and time again, it's been shown that the real vs fake vanilla thing doesn't matter for more complex foods (read: baked good…

In ice cream, cocktails, whipped egg whites, and other foods that are minimally processed, the complexity of real vanilla makes a big difference. I'll eventually make some batches of cookies and small cakes and compare.
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