Madagascar bourbon vanilla bean paste - Bourbon in there?

I've been silly for so long. For about 2 years?

For these years, ever since I came into contact with real vanilla pods, I came to realise how different the smell is from the artificial vanilla extract we commonly find in bakery supplies stores and supermarkets. And ever since that time, I have been using Lorann's Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste. I've never wanted to go back to the artificial ones though they are soooo much cheaper.

The Lorann's vanilla bean paste, the smell is soooo much more fragrant. It takes so little to give such a good flavour. Best of all, I have the vanilla seeds in there. It never fails to make me happy.

But what I have been silly about is all this while I thought that this was made with bourbon. The bourbon that we add to Coke to make Bourbon Coke?? After all, we are able to make our own vanilla extract with vodka, rum and bourbon, so this has to be the Bourbon Coke bourbon. Right? WRONG!

Today, I have learnt something new. This is not the same bourbon. And Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Paste does not contain the (alcohol) bourbon.

Bourbon in vanilla language is not the same as bourbon in alcohol talk.

In vanilla world, bourbon refers to the place it comes from. Nothing to do with alcohol at all.

Look this up here. This is just one of the sites you can read about Madagascar bourbon.

And yet when I was asked if my bakes are halal, I said no. I mean they are not certified to be halal, but I said no on the premise that I was thinking that they contain alcohol. Might have lost a few orders, but well. No loss, no gain.

Now hope you learn something new too!