Saturday, September 30, 2017

Vanilla shortage, how I miss vanilla!

It was in 2015 that a vanilla shortage was first predicted, and there are still press articles coming out about it like this one from the BBC.

I love vanilla, and I had been buying ground Bourbon vanilla for some time until earlier this year when it became impossible to find anywhere. The ground vanilla was pure, no additives of any kind and I put it in my plain yoghurt and my hot raw cacao drink each evening.

I also like the Rachel's Organic low fat yogurts, particularly vanilla. So I was dismayed to find that one supermarket where I could still buy Rachel's seems to no longer have the vanilla. I haven't checked the other source, but I imagine they will also no longer stock it. It was suggested that I buy Yeo Valley vanilla yoghurt instead but I stopped buying flavoured yoghurts from Yeo Valley when they changed the ingredients to contain maize as a thickener. Rice is fine, tapioca is fine but not maize. It tells me Yeo Valley still have some vanilla, as does Green and Blacks. Other brands of vanilla yoghurts are still available, none of which I can eat.

I know I can't avoid maize completely, some of my prescription tablets contain it in tiny amounts. Maize has the same effect on me as wheat and other grain when eaten in any quantity, I once tried to use it to make bread etc.

I have managed without vanilla all year, I use cinnamon and nutmeg and have almost forgotten how much better things taste with vanilla!