Best Pure Vanilla Extract for Baking

👤It was not dark brown and it smelled like alcohol. I threw it away. Since Kirkland is a reliable brand, I'm a little uneasy. Don't waste your money! Don't buy! Something was wrong with this product.

👤I got it from Amazon, not from Costco. This is my absolute favorite of all the bottles I have ever bought, but it doesn't smell or taste like any of them.

👤There are some really fancy sommeliers in these ratings. I'm not a professional baker, but I bake a lot. It was a bit disconcerting to know that I need to change this. I'm going to order this vanilla because it tastes and smells like it's cheap and I like it. It doesn't have a "bouquet" but it doesn't cause an unpleasant aftertaste. It arrives in a box in 2 days and is great for baking. I don't know what kind of magical utopian vanilla some of you people are trying to find, but this one is fine for me, and I would recommend it to other regular people.

👤I would have preferred a product that only uses alcohol as a source of extract. This is a good product at a good price point. I will use it until it's gone.

👤Any flavor of vanilla can be used in cooking. Some products are non-standard, with their flavor enhanced by vanillin or alcohol-free. This is a standard alcohol-extracted flavor.

👤I've never bought a better vanilla. I'm 51 years old and have bought a lot of vanilla before.

👤The smell is wonderful. It was a pleasure to bake. The cap was cracked when it was delivered. The plastic wrap on the bottle was too low, which allowed the vanilla to leak into the packaging. I'm pretty sure the postal service slung the package around because it was labeled as a "chattering chimp", which I'm pretty sure was a stuffed toy. I think the vanilla is very good.

👤It was exactly what I was looking for and cheaper than buying it online. There is a It arrived before the expected date.

👤I wasn't happy about the price, but I have come to realize that it isn't cheap for the real thing. It's better when you don't have anything added to it. It tasted great, and I used about a quarter of it every morning to make my Bulletproof Coffee. I'm interested in trying out other options, even if they're more expensive, because I've heard great things about all the different types of beans around the world, even if they're more expensive. I think I want to try the cherry flavor of Tahitian beans, because they are supposed to have a hint of it.

👤I wish they'd mention that it has a strong Bourbon taste, it reminds me of alcohol. I just bought a bunch of beans. This is a good one. I poured the alcohol into my espresso because I didn't have alcohol to drink.

👤I've tried many gourmet brands, but this is my favorite for its flavor and aroma. I'm not sure if I'll be buying it again unless it's less expensive, I was paying nearly half of the current price until recently. If less than $10, I will definitely buy again.

👤It is expensive but it makes a difference.

👤My mother used to bake cakes from scratch every week. I didn't know how to cook but I had the extract in the cabinet. Maybe I am imagining it, but this small batches seems to have a richer taste. The best extract is McCormicks.

👤A smooth and robust flavor.

👤It was fine. I couldn't get over the difference between the brands.

👤So delicious! I sold out of this within a few hours after I used it for a bake sale. I baked more and was sold out before noon.

👤I've been using the same brand for many years and go through a quart a year. I'm familiar with the color and strength of the game, it's a wonderful, non gmo gf game and wouldn't use anything else. This is a watered down version of the original. It is missing the flavor I paid a lot of money for, and it has none of the transparency it should.

👤We've bought this brand of extract before, not from Amazon. The purchase of Amazon Prime was disappointing. The color of the liquid was clear. The taste was similar to straight alcohol. We will buy it somewhere else when it's returned.

👤You expect to smell that sweet rich flavor when you open it. I smelled alcohol instead. It was very thin and appeared to have been watered down. You get an alcohol taste when you taste it. Not happy with the purchase.

👤I have purchased this product many times. I just ordered a bottle of alcohol and it appears to be straight alcohol.

👤I had rated this bottle of Bourbon Vanilla 5 stars but after baking with it, I realized it was not good. It is watered down a lot. This bottle is terrible, I only use Bourbon Vanilla.

👤Amazon was convinced that this was real. I ordered a bottle despite the negative reviews. The product quality was great, I did it a few years ago. Not this time! The flavor is bad. I will be reaching out to Amazon to get my money back.

👤The product is not what you would expect. The smell of alcohol was very strong. I would not buy this brand.

👤I don't care for the taste. I will be going back to Baldwins.

👤My wife and daughter recommend the product to everyone in the family and friends recommend it to them.

👤The cheaper extract has a stronger flavour. I am happy but not sure about the price. A little bit expensive. Will purchase again.

👤I make ice cream and yogurt. This is the most natural extract that I have found.

👤Considering what you pay in shops for this product, I thought it was a good purchase.

👤I received a blended extract. The price was almost twice as much as I paid. I had to "prove" that I was wrong when I contacted the store and filed a complaint. They refused to admit that there was a difference between the two products because they had talked to their supplier. I showed them the differences between them and the nielsen massey homepage. I was told that I could get a refund if I sent the item back in mail. They could not do that, because I said I wantet also refunds my shipping if I return it. They forced me to take a loss, and didn't want me to take a loss for the error they did.

👤I need to keep a lot of lemon extract because I can't get enough lemon desserts. I have tried a few other brands, but I prefer the McCormick brand. I use extract instead of grating lemons in my recipes because it's so much easier. Highly recommended.

👤I baked a lemon cake with lemon extract and it gave the whole cake a weird bleach flavor. The lemon extract in the cake batter and the frosting ruined the whole cake, because the recipe called for it. I baked the cake without the lemon extract and it tasted great.

👤The lemon extract is just plain bad, and I usually like McCormick extracts. The banana, coconut, butter, and peppermint are all good. Lemon is bad. I thought I used too much, but when I made it again, it was still bad.

👤I am not a fan of alcohol based flavors but this lemon extract does not seem to overwhelm the taste of lemon. I only have to use 1/2 of the lemon flavor for it to taste lemony, and I use it to make a quick microwave 6oz lemon cheesecake. It's awesome for mixing into a vanilla shake.

👤This is what I needed for my homemade cookies. The taste of my cookies is very nice. I will purchase more when needed. It won't expire if I use it right away. This brand is in my pantry.

👤It's great for cakes and pastries.

👤This is a very good deal. An ounce and a half is $5 in the grocery store. You already know it's quality because it has the great name of McCormick. A small amount goes a long way. It's used in cakes, frosting, and sugar cookies. If you bake a lot like I do, buying your extracts in bulk is the way to go. It costs a little more upfront, but it lasts a long time. I have bought this extract before and will continue to do so. Baking is fun!

👤Iike products. I live in the Baltimore area and went to school with Sherry. I know their wonderful products and trust their quality. They will never let you down. It's a bit pricey, but worth it.

👤I don't know what my expectations were but this product is not as lemony as I thought it would be. I have to use at least a small amount per bottle. The price is great for 8 ounces so I should still work out as cost effective even though I have to use more. I would definitely buy again.

👤I like using clear vanilla on things that I want to keep pure white. I don't think the flavor is as good as a pure extract of vanilla. I will buy this again.

👤I am a professional baker and the taste was good.

👤The flavor is very good even though it is artificial. It's perfect for white cakes and sugar cookies.

👤It's fine and quality, but not like the bean from Madagascar.

👤It's bright white color is due to the great flavor of beibg clear.

👤It's good for artificial vanilla, but it's not double strength to me.

👤It took a long time to get to me.

👤If you are a baker, this is a great deal on CLEAR vanilla for those types of products where you're looking for a particular flavor. There is anHINT. This is what you want if you are looking for clear vanilla in the Birthday Cake line of goodies. You would end up spending a lot more to get clear vanilla at your local store. If you're in the market for liquid varietals, you're not going to want clear vanilla, but an imitation of it or a pure one.

👤There is no way to recreate the taste of a nostalgic food item like a butter cake or pound cake without this kind of clear imitation vanilla extract. I don't like the taste of the higher quality stuff or real extract. It's hard to describe but both real and vanilla are used in the bake world. I prefer the vanilla for non-nostalgia items. The extract can be used to mix into flours. The paste is good for ice cream.

👤Yuk! It ruined my smoothie. Not the imitation of my youth! It's surprising that a major brand is McCormick. The alcohol and citric acid in the ingredients list are what it tastes like. What are the "other artificial flavorings"? I poured the flavor out in the garden and it was so bad that I wanted a different flavor. If your local store has a brand of imitation vanilla that is brown, it's a good idea to buy an 8oz Weis brand. Gold Medal also makes an imitation of a popular beverage, and both are very affordable and storable. It's a good thing. The smell is one of the great things about the flavor. The item was missing. I sample the Gold Medal brand at Weis and it also gets a "YUK"! There is no flavor or aroma here, more "ingredients", and 14 of a cup burned my mouth! I'll stick with the Weis product if they still carry it.

👤This product was cheap and similar to a low quality candy. The product was versatile for the price. This imitation does a pretty good job of replicating the rich flavor of real vanilla, even though it's cheaper. I would use it for baked goods. I just added some of this flavor to my hot chocolate and it was quite pleasant. The lack of chemicals in this product is what I love the most. If you're looking for something simple and cheap, I would recommend this imitation. This is a great bang for your buck and it's real.

👤As a child, you dream about the extract. You don't see the thick, gourmet, thick vanilla in specialty stores. The cake has funfetti and you can taste the vanilla. I thought the high quality stuff was better for you. You have to buy this when you want a nostalgic taste. I wanted to make a funfetti cake for my boyfriend's birthday. It calls for this particular flavor. I couldn't find it even though I lived in the same state as McCornmic. It took over a week to get here, but I got it after I found it on Amazon. There is a huge difference between the cake I made and the one I made before. I don't want to make things with this all the time, but it was necessary for this cake. It made you think about childhood. This was one of the most impressive cakes that I've ever made and it got great reviews, I think due to this vanilla.

👤I was sad when I opened the bottle. It was like water from a book. Try the recipe again with double what I normally use, but I couldn't taste it at all. Try again. It took 1/3 cup of this stuff to taste anything. I was disappointed!

👤I've bought Mexican vanilla before and was very happy. I've used a variety of things, including imitation and actual vanilla. This is too weak. Quality tastes are not determined by the amount of richness or depth. I used double the amount in my recipe to get the same taste. Charge a few dollars more and you will get the strength back. It was too thin to justify the price. I'm not happy.

👤This can't be boring. It smells like cheap cologne. I have to use icing for cakes. After a friend brought me some of Mexico's famous chocolate, I thought I'd try ordering it. I will go back to Wilton. You get what you pay for.

👤This is actually cut with water and has other add flavors. This product works well in all of our recipes and I want to stay as white as possible. It has a great smell.

👤There is no reason to dislike this product. I cook at a golf resort. Everything I bake with this flavor tastes better. I made 100 pounds of white frosting at Christmas and I like it. The shipping time is great and the price is great.

👤A friend of mine went to Mexico and gave me a bottle of this. Love the clear because it doesn't show anything. The 4 pack was given to me so I could split it with a friend. This will last a long time. I remembered the bottle from before. It is very wonderful.

👤It's horrible! This isn't pure vanilla at all. FAKE FAKE! It tasted like salt and cinnamon and ruined my buttercream frosting. I requested a refund.

👤I couldn't tell the difference between this and my usual extract, even though it was excellent. I did a search and found that the panelists couldn't distinguish between the different extracts used in a sugar cookie recipe. I thought it was just my taste buds. I learned that one's own liquor and beanpods were definitely distinguishable from the rest. I ordered some beanpods and a steeping jar from Amazon to make my own. You can add more vodka when the jar gets low, and extend the life of the beans, contrary to what I thought. It lasts a long time, so if you are a regular user like me, or an occasional user like me, you will always have home made on hand.

👤I chose this vanilla because it is a cheap product and it is one of those things that has become more expensive in the last few years. That was a mistake. I noticed the lack of smell when I opened it. The project's aroma is barely there, which is atypical for a project like this. If you really try to smell it, you can take in a hint of aroma. So is taste and flavor. It's very weak and not much there. If you drank the bottle like a shot, it would taste like a shot, but otherwise, it's weak and barely carries flavor. I went to a big discount store the other day and bought a cheap extract from a company called McCormick. It was about $5, but it tasted better and was more usable. This is not usable. If you're looking for a good, usable vanilla for cooking, don't buy it.

👤I use a lot of the stuff. I have bottles from different countries. The weakest flavor in my cupboard, this one is watered-down. The ingredients list supports the suspicion. This item had a recommendation from Amazon. If you buy it, double or triple the amount you normally use, it will be okay.

👤The last 3 months it has been unavailable, I got this on subscribe and save 3 times and liked it for the price. I bake and cook a lot so I want to have a decent and affordable extract in the cupboard without thinking about it. I had figured that out with this product. Apparently that's not the case. The extract is better tasting but more expensive than the one I bought. I used the same picture as I reviewed it because my fig/orange/cinnamon banana bread is out of this world. I can't afford the double strength Penzeys extract, the best one ever. If it was reliable, I would keep buying it. I know these are unprecedented times and all, but the Nielsen-Massey has been in stock all 3 times I've ordered it. I'm going to stick with that brand. That's great. You can't buy this extract if you want it, because it's unavailable as I write this review. The best thing I've tried on Amazon so far is the Nielsen-Massey. Let me know if there is a different kind that is good for the money.

👤I ran out of the bottle I bought at the grocery store several years ago. It smelled better and said something on the bottle that was 42% alcohol. The bottle I bought in January of last year has different ingredients and doesn't state the alcohol content. Maybe there was a change in the labeling, but it also has less kick when I lick it. I don't think it's the same. The ingredients in my bottle are not the same as those on Amazon. I'm willing to pay a lot more for good vanilla beans and not cheapen their product, even though the price of them has gone up a lot. Disappointed.

👤The extract is more dense than other brands. The taste is artificial and not the same. The picture shows the difference in concentration between the two products. This product is lighter than other brands.

👤I bought five bottles of this and they are not authentic. I bought a small bottle of pure vanilla extract at the grocery store and it tasted very similar to the ones I smelled. This stuff is not real. The bad reviews are correct, and whoever is selling this is putting fakes on Amazon. I poured the small grocery store bottle at the top of the plate in the photo I took. The Amazon bought ones are on the bottom of the plate. You can see that the grocery store is darker than the Amazon store.

👤Unless it is from a known source, don't buy it. I make my own syrups for coffee and use a lot of the stuff, so I know what to expect from it. This product is not as good as the small bottle of genuine McCormick vanilla I bought from the grocery store and the same size bottle I bought from the store before they stopped carrying it. Those were complex and rich. The product smells and tastes like artificial vanilla with a strong alcohol smell and a lighter color. The quality of this vanilla has declined or it is not an authentic product. I think it's the latter. I am stuck with a cheap vodka because I didn't finish my old bottle before the return period ended.

👤I can't believe this is a product from a company. I will never do it again. It has to be different. There was no smell or taste. The color is a bit lighter than my last bottle. Rip off! Very dissatisfied! It's terrible!

👤The product is great. The description read a much larger bottle when I purchased it. The description was changed to read 16 ounces. After my order, there was no notification. Very dishonest in my opinion.

👤This is false advertising and it is banking on the good name of the company. The ingredients and description say that it's pure vanilla extract, but you can see on the bottle that it's avanilla bean extract. I bought water with flavors. It is almost tasteless. Do not recommend.

👤The product tasted a little watered down compared to my smaller bottle. I gave it a good shake, but it still tasted a bit weak. No one seems to notice.

👤We do a lot of home food prep from scratch, so we use lots of vanilla. This works if you use the extract. It has a similar flavor to the little dark glass bottles in the store, but because of the volume, it is cheaper per ounce in this size bottle, and from Amazon, it is a but fresher than our local shop, so step in the right direction for us. It comes in a clear plastic bottle, which needs to be emptied into a glass, and the plastic bottle is already turning brown, so you will get why if you don't taste the vanilla towards the end. We had to buy glass bottles. I wash and reuse them, but how much plastic has already seeped into my vanilla by the time I get it? The plastic bottles have stains on them. As another reviewer pointed out, it uses water as a ingredient and uses alcohol to extract the flavor and oils from the beans. I don't know if the water is common in other brands or if it's something to do with the legal restrictions on alcohol, but it does affect the flavor over the little alcohol only bottles I have purchased from cooking shops. Sometimes I use double the amount or triple the amount to get enough flavor in my prep, this means adjusting other liquids to compensate, like half the ice water in the pie crust, and use cold vanilla! I saw a reviewer who suggested making your own, and that may be where I will head, but for now, this is an easy way to get the amount of vanilla we need for our day to day baking and cooking, we have a subscription. I don't have to remember. I have been happy with all of the vanilla I have received, it has worked in my recipes, with minor adjustments, and given that the price of vanilla took a huge jump a couple of years ago when they had that storm that wiped out most of the crop, it hasn't gone I am happy because it is more economical and fresh than the little bottles at the grocery. The plastic bottle is the reason for the star's loss. I realize that it saves them money as there are fewer bottles lost to breakage, and shipping costs are less as the plastic is lighter, but I ended up throwing away 1/3 of the first bottle we bought this way. I wonder how much plastic we are consuming with all the plastic containers, and when they will announce that food stored in plastic containers causes some cancer or another.

👤I can't imagine why this product costs so much. It isn't organic. The flavor is nice, but it doesn't compare to other brands of pure, organic vanilla extract that are less expensive. I was expecting a lot more for that price. I just got average, but that's all I can say about it.

👤Definitely not like the red label product. A strong alcohol smell and very thin.