Christopher Smith, vice president of vanilla products at Virginia Dare, Brooklyn, N.Y., highlights vanilla’s versatility with countless flavor profiles. “Vanilla pairs well with everything, so developers have no rein on their imagination in creating exciting flavor combinations.”

Vanilla also can make formulations more palatable for first-time consumers, adds Deborah Osborne flavor chemist at Flavor Dynamics. “[B]rands use this traditional flavor to make the new and exciting products approachable and appealing to consumers,” she says.

Ilana Orlofsky, marketing coordinator for Niles, Ill.-based Imbibe, adds that vanilla can offer a vast range of flavor components. “There are several hundred flavor components to the vanilla bean (the main compound being vanillin) that range from pungent, acidic, fragrant, to sweet and sharp,” she says. “Understanding the chemistry of vanilla — and whether it should deliver a more floral, sweet note over a woody, bitter note is critical in building the most compelling beverage. Vanilla also helps [to] balance and accentuate other notes, especially those of cocoa, so it’s often used as an ingredient even if it’s not called out in the flavor profile.”

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