I'd have to say that vanilla and sugar must surely be among the most common additives or flavorings used to market rum. Sadly, I suspect that most of the "vanilla flavored" rums - especially those of the mega companies like Cruzan or Barcardi - are not made with real vanilla at all, but rather with artificial chemical "flavorings".
Why?
Pretty simple. Real vanilla is very expensive, artificial chemical flavoring is not. And artificial vanilla is really pretty bad:
Still some of the smaller distillers claim to use real vanilla. We can believe that and can taste the difference; so can you. Read the reviews.Most imitation vanillas contain vanillin, only one of 171 identified aromatic components of the real vanilla beans. Vanillin can be produced synthetically from lignin. Most synthetic vanillin is a byproduct of the pulp and paper industry, and is made from waste sulfate, which contains lignin-sulfonic acid.
One of the myths about vanilla is that this wonderful bean originated in Mexico. One rum blogger even tries to credit Mexico for peppers. Neither is true.
Peppers orginated from an even bigger area which included both Central and South America. And that's the rest of the story.Originally cultivated by Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with introducing both vanilla and chocolate to Europe in the 1520s...
Mesoamerica was the region that included southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, western Honduras, and the Pacific lowlands of Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica.
There are currently three major cultivars of vanilla grown globally, all derived from a species originally found in Mesoamerica, including parts of modern day Mexico. The various subspecies are Vanilla planifolia (syn. V. fragrans), grown on Madagascar, Réunion and other tropical areas along the Indian Ocean; V. tahitensis, grown in the South Pacific; and V. pompona, found in the West Indies, Central and South America.
Bottom line:
It is fashionable to credit Mexico for both "vanilla" and "peppers" in the food and beverage racket, mostly I believe to create a marketing myth that supports the sales of Tequila, et al.
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Note: If you'd like to create a terrific flavored rum of your own, just buy a couple of real vanilla pods and use a good white rum (Matusalem would be an excellent choice). Then add a little simple syrup to taste.
Be sure to check out the recipes later in this thread!
The highest quality real vanilla is probably that labeled "Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla" (from the Bourbon islands). Indonesia is the second largest producer - its vanilla is reputed to add some lightly fruity, flowery anise notes. Mexican vanilla is often adulterated, but if pure is alleged to add some mildly spicy notes.
Personally, we find the Madagascar is hard to beat. If you can't find actual pods, its probably just as effective to buy some real extract for your experiments.