Cocktails with Vanilla sugar
Vanilla sugar is granulated sugar flavoured with vanilla, either by infusing it with vanilla beans or by mixing it with vanilla extract.
Taste profile
Clean sweetness carrying a soft, fragrant vanilla aroma over the plain sugar base.
How it's used
Stirred or muddled into a build, it sweetens while adding a vanilla accent; dosed in small amounts like ordinary sugar, and dissolving best in warm or well-agitated drinks.
Substitutes for Vanilla sugar
Plain sugar or simple syrup for the sweetness, combined with a vanilla source such as vanilla extract, vanilla paste, or vanilla beans to supply the aroma.
Often confused with
Vanillin sugar (synthetic)
Natural vanilla sugar is flavoured with real vanilla beans or extract, whereas cheaper vanillin sugar is flavoured with synthetic vanillin. Both are sold as sugar carrying vanilla aroma and are often used interchangeably.
Description
Cooks make it by combining white granulated sugar with the scraped seeds of a vanilla bean, or by storing whole beans in a sealed jar of sugar and ageing the mixture, replenishing the sugar as it is used. Cheaper commercial versions may be flavoured with synthetic vanillin rather than natural vanilla.
