Tahitian vanilla beans are usually shorter, plumper, and contain a higher oil and water content than Bourbon beans. When compared to Bourbon vanilla beans, they have a slightly more fruity and floral aroma, but an equally rich vanilla flavor.

Usually sold to fine dining chefs, these vanilla beans are fresher, more moist, and significantly higher quality than Tahitian beans found in most supermarkets.

Storage: How to Store Vanilla Beans

Shelf Life: Stored properly, vanilla beans should stay fresh for up to a year, possibly longer if vacuum packed.

There are dozens of ways to use vanilla beans. When you have a recipe that calls for the inner scraping of the vanilla beans, don’t throw away the pod. They still have plenty of flavor left in them. In fact, depending on how you use them, vanilla bean can often be reused over and over again.

How to Use a Vanilla Bean
How to Make Vanilla Extract
Vanilla Recipes

How to Use Dried Vanilla Beans - If you accidently leave your vanilla beans out, don't despair, here are several tricks for rehydrating or using dried out vanilla beans.