Consumers value domestic vanilla -- when informed, research shows

(Press-News.org) UF/IFAS researchers are investigating the economic potential of growing vanilla in Florida with the aim of establishing an alternative – and potentially lucrative – crop to oranges.

“With citrus in decline, we’re searching for crops that can generate profits for producers,” said Jaclyn Kropp, a professor in the food and resource economics department. “Vanilla is a high-value crop, so there’s immense revenue potential.”

No large-scale, commercial production of vanilla exists in the United States, and the country imports more than $194 million worth of vanilla beans each year. There is, however, potential for a domestic market. Research from Kropp and her colleagues suggests consumers value Florida-grown vanilla extracts when they know what they’re consuming.

Participants of a blind sensory panel preferred synthetic vanilla flavoring to natural vanilla extract, according to a recently published UF/IFAS study. They compared whole milk samples flavored four ways: with synthetic vanilla or with a natural vanilla extract from Florida, Madagascar or Papua New Guinea.

Panelists were asked about their intention to purchase the flavors they tasted in 1-ounce bottles and as the source of flavoring for a half gallon of ice cream, and they indicated they were most likely to buy the synthetic vanilla and least likely to buy the Florida vanilla extract. Furthermore, they were willing to pay the most for items made with the synthetic flavoring.

Though less than 1% of synthetic vanilla flavoring comes from vanilla beans, it is used in more than 18,000 products, and panelists were likely drawn to it due to familiarity, according to the study. Synthetic vanilla flavoring lacks the more complex – and sometimes bitter – chemicals present in vanilla extract; panelists, in fact, ranked it the sweetest of the four samples they tried.

Another UF/IFAS study – yet to be published – involved two groups of panelists comparing synthetic vanilla flavoring, a vanilla extract from Madagascar and two vanilla

extracts from Florida. Researchers provided only one group with information about the flavorings’ origins.

Consistent with the researchers’ prior findings, participants who didn’t know what they were consuming preferred the synthetic vanilla flavoring, but those who did know preferred the Florida extracts – and they were willing to pay more for them, too.

While the results of the second study are preliminary, they are supported by findings from a UF/IFAS survey of American consumers that revealed a willingness to pay a premium for domestically produced extract, Kropp said.

The data Kropp and her team collect from the studies and surveys will ultimately steer development of Florida’s burgeoning vanilla industry.

“This market research is valuable because it provides insight into which variety of vanilla researchers should focus their efforts on in order for the state to create and support a thriving, in-demand crop,” Kropp said.

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