If vanilla is brown, why is the ice cream always white? Shouldn't it be brown?

Question

Vanilla beans are brown. Vanilla extract is brown. Yet for some reason vanilla ice cream is white. Shouldn't we dye this food like we do with other foods? I don't like that natural whiteness that comes from the milk ingredients. I think vanilla ice cream should be brown, to emphasize the vanilla part. Otherwise it just looks plain, and un-vanilla-y.

Answer 1

You make an very interesting point. Mint ice cream is generally green but the extract is clear. They dye it green.

I make my own ice cream. My sister once asked me to make her some pistachio ice cream. The complaints I got from her because it was not green were endless. To shut her up I made another batch and threw in a few drops of green food dye to turn it green. Guess what, it did not taste any different than the "white" one.

Personally, I prefer my foods natural without the added chemicals and preservatives. For instance, homemade strawberry ice cream tastes totally different than store bought stuff which uses strawberry flavoring instead of the flavor from real strawberry. They are both pink in color though.

Answer 2

The vanilla beans mixed into the white dairy base are tiny brown seeds. If you get some real vanilla ice cream (I think Breyers) has actual little flecks. Same idea with extract. So little is needed to flavor it, that it barely colors the dairy white. Some french vanilla ice creams are a yellow beige.

Having said all that -- if vanilla was brown how would we distinguish it from chocolate, and how boring would Neopolitan Ice Cream be???

Answer 3

To add to the above posts, vanilla is a strong extract so very little is needed for the ice cream which is made from milk. The white color comes from the milk and the final color is not changed by adding the vanilla.

Answer 4

The vanilla flavor comes from the seeds, which are very tiny. If you look in high quality ice cream you will see the little dark specks. Otherwise the ice cream is the color of the milk and cream used to make it. Vanilla extract is made by extracting the essential oils from the seeds and pods.

Answer 5

The flavor that is extracted from the vanilla bean has essentially no color. You will see brown flecks of vanilla been seeds in good vanilla products. But vanilla is merely a flavoring, not the main ingredient, of vanilla ice cream.

Answer 6

I agree with Sugar Pie.

FYI: I use clear vanilla for my white cake frosting.... otherwise the frosting does take on a bit of the brown coloring and doesn't look as white and pristine on a wedding cake.

Answer 7

No, the liquid extract is light-brownish in color. Very little is used in the white cream that goes into making ice cream, and so doesn't show up because it is too diluted.

Answer 8

they use vanilla bean which is inside wich is white

Answer 9

Ya, good point