Charles H. Baldwin & Sons, of West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is a family-run business that has been making vanilla extract since 1888. The company is run by Earl Baldwin Moffatt and his wife, Jackie Moffatt, and they operate under a dictum that was handed down by Earl’s great-great-great-grandfather: Never buy inferior beans, and never tamper with the recipe. In the 111 years since the company was founded, they never have. They even use the same oak aging barrels that held Charles H. Baldwin & Sons’ first batch of vanilla extract.
Two batches of extract are made each month, and each batch uses twenty-two pounds of vanilla beans imported from Madagascar. The first step in the process is to put the beans into a copper percolator with a water-and-alcohol solution; the beans stew for five days at 125 degrees. The solution is drained and then poured over a second tin of beans, which is left for four more days. After carefully filtering the liquid, it is placed in oak barrels to age for two weeks. Jackie and Earl say using the oak barrels is essential in bringing out a more mellow, less metallic taste. When the two weeks are up, Jackie measures out bottles of the extract to sell to bakers and ice-cream and candy makers, as well as to private customers through mail order and the shop.
SPECIAL THANKS
1 Center Street
PO Box 372
West Stockbridge, MA 01266
413-232-7785
Fax: 413-232-0114
SOURCES
Vanilla
extract
$15.50
for an eight-ounce bottle
Charles
H. Baldwin & Sons