How Is Vanilla Extract Made? Beans, Alcohol, Fold and Oleoresin

Vanilla extract is made by soaking chopped, cured vanilla beans in a mixture of ethanol and water, slowly by maceration or, in industry, by percolation that pumps the solvent through the beans, then filtering and standardising the liquid. In the United States, a product sold as "vanilla extract" must hold at least 35% ethyl alcohol by volume and the extractives of 13.35 oz of beans per gallon, about 100 g per litre (21 CFR 169.175, 21 CFR 169.3). Put more beans in the same volume and you get a double or higher "fold"; remove nearly all the solvent and you reach vanilla oleoresin, the dark concentrate that food manufacturers dose in fractions of a percent.

Key facts

• Solvent: water and ethanol. Industrial percolation circulates 35 to 50% ethanol through the beans under vacuum (CIR, 2020); a full extraction takes 48 to 72 hours (Romero de la Vega et al., 2016).
• One US fold: 13.35 oz of beans at 25% moisture or less per US gallon, in at least 35% alcohol: 99.98 g of beans per litre (21 CFR 169.3).
• Under 35% alcohol, the US name becomes "vanilla flavoring" (21 CFR 169.177).
• Oleoresin is vanilla flavoring "concentrated to the semisolid form" (21 CFR 169.175): ethanol runs through ground beans under vacuum at about 45 °C, then the alcohol is evaporated (CIR, 2020).
• EU solvents: ethanol and carbon dioxide may be used under good manufacturing practice; hexane is capped at 1 mg/kg in the food when used to make flavourings (Directive 2009/32/EC).
• Our range: industrial vanilla extract at 100, 200 and 400 g/L and Madagascar vanilla oleoresin in 20x, 30x and 40x, both in our vanilla extracts and oleoresin for industry.

Start with the bean: cured, graded and weighed for moisture

A green pod has almost no free vanillin. It stores glucovanillin, which curing breaks down into vanillin and glucose (FAO); our lexicon explains bean curing. The US standard accordingly recognises only "the properly cured and dried fruit pods" of Vanilla planifolia and Vanilla tahitensis (21 CFR 169.3). Open a carton of Red US beans and the smell is sweet, woody and a little spicy, the profile our sheet gives for that grade: this is what the solvent has to carry into the bottle.

Extraction usually works from drier grades than the supple, oily pods sold to pastry chefs. At sorting, drier pods, often reddish, and pods with visual defects go to extraction (Norohy). "Red" vanilla is dried faster than gourmet vanilla (Eurovanille), and FAO describes chocolate-brown beans at 18 to 22% moisture as the most popular with extractors (FAO). On our sheets, Red US vanilla beans (16 to 20% moisture) and Red Europe vanilla beans (20 to 25%) are prepared for extraction, and QCP cut vanilla arrives in 2 cm pieces with 2 to 2.5% vanillin. Our guide on why extractors choose Red US and Red Europe goes grade by grade.

Moisture changes the bean weight

The US fold is a weight of beans, corrected for moisture. At 25% moisture or less, one unit is 13.35 oz of beans per gallon; above that, the weight rises so the dry matter stays the same, and at 33.25% moisture the unit is 15 oz (21 CFR 169.3(b)). Applied to our grades:

Formula: 99.98 g/L × 0.75 ÷ (1 - moisture) once moisture exceeds 25%. Above 25%, the extra weight is water. For scale, ISO 5565-1 gives 1.6 to 2.4% vanillin, wet basis, as the usual range for cured pods, and asks for further testing above 2.4% because synthetic vanillin may have been added (ISO 5565-1). Our formulation simulator applies the same moisture correction to your batch.

How vanilla extract is made, step by step

Kitchen and factory follow one logic: expose as much bean surface as possible to a solvent that dissolves vanillin and its companions, then separate the liquid. Vanillin dominates, but about 170 volatile compounds have been identified in cured Madagascar beans (Ranadive, 2006); origin differences are covered in our article on the aromatic profiles of Vanilla planifolia.

1. Analyse the lot. Moisture sets the bean weight and vanillin gives a first reading of strength. US makers who submit an extract formula to the federal alcohol tax bureau must report "moisture content of the beans, manufacturing yield, fold, extraction steps, recovered ethanol, and disposal of the spent beans" (TTB).
2. Cut or grind. Red grades are typically cut into 2 to 3 cm pieces and crushed before they go into extraction drums (our extractor guide). Smaller particles extract better: in supercritical CO2 trials, a lower particle size favoured oleoresin yield (Castillo-Ruz et al., 2011).
3. Extract. At home, beans macerate in a spirit for weeks. In industry, percolation circulates water and ethanol "over and through the beans under vacuum" (CIR, 2020), a form of hydroalcoholic extraction. Temperature needs care: poor control can degrade the extract (Romero de la Vega et al., 2016).
4. Separate and filter. The liquid is drained from the bean mass and filtered. The exhausted beans still hold their seeds: our spent vanilla powder and seeds are milled or recovered from beans after extraction and sold as visual markers.
5. Standardise. The maker adjusts strength and may add the optional ingredients the US standard allows: glycerin, propylene glycol, sugar including invert sugar, dextrose and corn syrup (21 CFR 169.175). European pastry extracts are often built differently: Norohy macerates pods in several alcohol baths, evaporates down to the oleoresin, then dilutes it in cane sugar syrup (Norohy). Ours are made on a sugar base (product sheet).
6. Concentrate, if needed. Evaporating part of the solvent under vacuum gives a concentrated extract; evaporating almost all of it gives oleoresin.
7. Pack and store. Our extracts and oleoresin keep 12 to 24 months at +12 °C to +19 °C in their closed original packaging (oleoresin sheet).

What "fold" means: single fold, double fold and beyond

One fold, in numbers

Fold counts "units of vanilla constituent" per gallon. A unit is what aqueous alcohol of at least 35% extracts from one unit weight of beans (21 CFR 169.3(c)), and the name must state the whole number of units when there are two or more (21 CFR 169.175(b)(2)). One unit per US gallon is 378.5 g of beans in 3.785 L: 99.98 g per litre, or 23.7 g (0.83 oz) per US cup. One vanilla seller's home recipe calls 1 oz (28 g) per cup of vodka "single-fold" (Native Vanilla): about 1.2 US units before any moisture correction.

Two roads to double fold

A 2-fold product comes either from twice the beans in the same solvent, or from a single-fold extract with part of its solvent evaporated. US names follow the route: made directly, it is a vanilla extract whose name carries "2-fold" (21 CFR 169.175(b)(2)); concentrated, it is "Concentrated vanilla extract 2-fold" (21 CFR 169.176), or "Concentrated vanilla flavoring 2-fold" under 35% alcohol (21 CFR 169.178).

For food processing, one major US vanilla house says 1 to 4-fold is typical and that higher folds would need heat and pressure, which in its view damage the flavour (Nielsen-Massey). Watch vanilla-vanillin products: their fold number adds the ounces of added vanillin (up to 1 oz per unit) to the units of vanilla, and the label must say "contains vanillin, an artificial flavor" (21 CFR 169.180).

Fold outside the United States

EU law treats a vanilla extract as a flavouring preparation (Regulation (EC) 1334/2008, art. 3) and sets no bean minimum or alcohol level for it: grams per litre and "X" are purchasing conventions. Our sheet lists extracts at 100, 200 and 400 g/L and calls them 1X, 2X and 4X, the same order as the US unit, though a US fold also demands 35% alcohol and the moisture correction. For oleoresin, none of these texts defines the "x": it is a trade convention, so ask how it is calculated and which vanillin level each grade guarantees.

Fold does not predict dose

One US flavour house suggests 0.20 to 0.40% for its 2-fold extract, 0.05 to 0.10% for its 10-fold extract, and the same 0.05 to 0.10% for its 20-fold oleoresin (2-fold, 10-fold, oleoresin). Our gourmet vanilla extract sheet starts from 1X (10 to 12 mL/kg in baked goods, 12 to 15 mL/L in an ice cream base, 8 to 10 mL/L in beverages) and divides by two for 2X, by four for 4X. Our oleoresin sheet gives one range per application for the range as a whole. Test in your own matrix, then size the batch in the simulator set to ice cream and oleoresin.

How much alcohol is in vanilla extract and vanilla flavoring?

So how much alcohol is in vanilla flavoring? In the US, anything under 35%, down to almost none. Frontier Co-op sells a glycerin product made from vanilla oleoresin, under 0.5% alcohol by volume, as "Organic Pure Vanilla Flavoring" (Frontier Co-op). In the EU, water and other food substances with solvent properties are authorised extraction solvents (Directive 2009/32/EC, art. 2), so a maceration in water or sugar syrup uses authorised solvents (our reading of the text). Ours are made on a sugar base: if you sell in the United States, check the label name with your regulatory adviser, because the 35% line decides it. Oleoresin, its solvent removed, is alcohol-free on our sheet.

What is vanilla essence?

It depends on the country. In Canada, "vanilla essence" is a legal synonym of vanilla extract with the same bean minimum, while "imitation vanilla essence" takes its flavour wholly or partly from other sources (CFIA, 9.1.2 and 9.1.23). In Australia the word usually points to synthetic flavour; one Australian brand sums it up as "extract is a natural product, whereas essence is synthetic" (Queen). US law has no essence standard. In the EU only the ingredient list tells you: "natural vanilla flavouring" needs at least 95% of its flavouring component from vanilla; see our guide to natural vanilla flavouring labelling, EU vs US.

Labels are checked. In a 2019 French survey, only one sampled vanilla extract in two complied, with cases of "vanilla flavouring mixed with water and labelled as vanilla concentrate" (DGCCRF, reported by Phytocontrol).

From extract to oleoresin

The US standard calls it "vanilla flavoring concentrated to the semisolid form called vanilla oleo-resin" and lets extract makers rebuild extract from it, provided the label says "Made from vanilla oleoresin" (21 CFR 169.175). Removing the ethanol leaves the bean's flavour and non-volatile matter as a thick, dark paste. In one published lab protocol, hot ethanol yielded 37.2% oleoresin on bean weight, with 5.9% vanillin in the oleoresin (Romero de la Vega et al., 2016). Our Madagascar vanilla oleoresin is described as dark, viscous, oil-soluble and alcohol-free, in 20x, 30x and 40x. Perfumers use a related concentrate, vanilla absolute.

Solvent rules. In the EU, ethanol, carbon dioxide, acetone, ethyl acetate, propane, butane and nitrous oxide may be used for any food under good manufacturing practice; for flavourings, other solvents are capped in the final food, such as hexane at 1 mg/kg and dichloromethane at 0.02 mg/kg (Directive 2009/32/EC).

The US caps residues in spice oleoresins at 30 ppm for acetone, 25 ppm for hexane, 50 ppm for isopropyl alcohol or methanol and 30 ppm for chlorinated solvents combined (21 CFR 173, subpart C). Vanilla appears on its list of essential oils, "oleoresins (solvent-free)" and natural extractives generally recognised as safe (21 CFR 182.20).

Supercritical CO2 leaves no liquid solvent: one German CO2 extract takes 7 to 9 kg of beans per kg and carries 11 to 13% vanillin (FLAVEX). Our article on supercritical CO2 extraction of vanilla oleoresin covers pressure, temperature and particle size.

Solubility varies. One US 20-fold oleoresin on glycerin is sold for "water-soluble applications" (Flavorchem); our sheet lists ours as oil-soluble, suited to fat-based formulations. Read the solubility line of the spec and test a sample in your matrix before scaling.

Extract or oleoresin: which fits your process?

Five questions to put to any extract supplier

1. Which species and grade, at what moisture? The fold depends on it (21 CFR 169.3).
2. How is the fold or "x" calculated, and at what alcohol level?
3. Which solvent, and what residue on the certificate of analysis?
4. Is the product extracted directly, or diluted from oleoresin or a concentrate?
5. What do the technical sheet and certificate of analysis show for vanillin, density and Brix, batch after batch?

FAQ

How long does it take to make vanilla extract?

At home, two weeks in the dark can give a usable extraction (UF/IFAS), and King Arthur Baking gives as little as one month with seeds, at least three without (King Arthur). Industrial percolation extracts the main flavour compounds in 48 to 72 hours before concentration (Romero de la Vega et al., 2016).

Is double fold vanilla twice as strong?

It carries two units of bean extractives per gallon instead of one (21 CFR 169.175), so on paper half the volume replaces a single-fold dose; our sheet divides the 1X dose by two for 2X. Confirm by tasting the finished product.

Can vanilla extract be made without alcohol?

Yes, with glycerin, propylene glycol or sugar; Canada accepts glycerol and propylene glycol as extract carriers (CFIA). In the United States such a product cannot be sold as vanilla extract. Oleoresin is another alcohol-free route.

What is the difference between vanilla extract and vanilla oleoresin?

Extract is a solution of bean extractives; oleoresin is the same extractives with the solvent removed down to a semi-solid. Oleoresin is far more concentrated, so it is weighed rather than poured.

How many vanilla beans do I need for one litre of extract?

For one US fold, 100 g of beans at 25% moisture or less, and more for moister beans: 110 to 115 g of Bourbon Gourmet at 32 to 35% (21 CFR 169.3). Count by weight, not by bean.

Request our oleoresin spec sheet, samples or an industrial quote

Vanilla Fair, founded in 2016, cures Bourbon vanilla at its production sites in Maroantsetra, Madagascar, and exports worldwide from its head office in France. For your extraction or flavouring project:

• Request the vanilla oleoresin spec sheet: technical data sheet and specification.
• Ask for oleoresin samples or industrial extract samples, sent on request.
• Get an industrial quote for oleoresin, extracts or extraction beans; bulk bean grades start at 50 kg.
• Go deeper into the process with our article on supercritical CO2 extraction of vanilla oleoresin.

Sources

1. 21 CFR 169.3, 169.175, 169.176, 169.177, 169.178, 169.180 (eCFR, 24/09/2026).
2. 21 CFR 173, subpart C and 21 CFR 182.20.
3. TTB, Vanilla Extracts and Vanilla Flavors.
4. CFIA, Canadian Food Compositional Standards, Volume 9.
5. Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008, Directive 2009/32/EC (EUR-Lex, consolidated) and its Article 2.
6. Cosmetic Ingredient Review (2020), Vanilla-Derived Ingredients.
7. Romero de la Vega et al. (2016), J. Supercritical Fluids 108; Castillo-Ruz et al. (2011); Ranadive (2006), Perfumer & Flavorist 31.
8. FAO, Post-harvest Compendium: Vanilla; ISO 5565-1 (IS 15460 Part 1); UF/IFAS EP656.
9. DGCCRF, 2019 vanilla survey, via Phytocontrol.
10. Industry pages: Norohy, sorting, Eurovanille, expertise, Norohy, extract, Nielsen-Massey industrial FAQ, Flavorchem, Frontier Co-op, FLAVEX, Queen, Native Vanilla, King Arthur.
11. Vanilla Fair product sheets: oleoresin, extracts, Red US, Red Europe, QCP, Bourbon Gourmet.