==Vanilla Production==
Natural vanilla flavor is created from the beans of vanilla plant. After a delicate growing and harvesting procedure the beans are treated with mild, moist heat in order to break down cell walls and promote enzymatic reactions. They are then sun, oven, and air dried for up to 6 months. During this curing process three types of glucosides are hydrolytically cleaved to produce [[phenol]]s (one of which is vanillin, from glucovanillin) and glucose which give vanilla its characteristic flavor. After curing the beans are crushed and mixed with sugar. They are then percolated in an [[ethanol]]/[[water]] mixture for several weeks to extract the oils from the beans. The solids are filtered or centrifuged out and the alcohol content is then adjusted to the 35% minimum required by law.<ref name="Reineccius" />
Since natural vanilla is very expensive, imitation vanilla is often used to mix with or completely replace natural vanilla. Imitation vanilla was produced from eugenol, which was itself produced by oil of [[clove]], but now it is made from sulfite waste liquors from the [[paper]] industry.<ref name="Reineccius" />