Yes! Vanilla can be fun and can do more than flavor your favorite ice cream or cookie recipe. Here are a few fun milestones in vanilla history and some tips and tricks about using vanilla.

HISTORICAL REVIEW

• Thomas Jefferson is credited with introducing vanilla to the United States in the late 1700s. While serving as Ambassador to King Louis XVI of France, he became familiar with vanilla beans, and brought 200 vanilla beans back with him when he returned to the United States.
  
  
• Ice cream was becoming popular before the Revolutionary War, being served in New York City confectionery shops.
  
  
• George Washington liked ice cream and kept two pewter ice cream pots at Mount Vernon during his presidency from 1789-1797.
  
  
• Dolly Madison created a sensation when she served ice cream as a dessert in the White House at the second inaugural ball in 1812.
  
  
• The first ice cream cone was produced in New York City in 1896 by Italo Marchiony, who emigrated from Italy in the late 1800s, and was granted a patent for his special mould in December, 1903. In 1904, the ice cream cone was introduced at the St. Louis World's Fair when a Syrian waffle concessionaire named E.A. Hamwi started rolling waffles into the shape of a cone for the benefit of an ice cream vendor who occupied an adjoining booth. It has remained a favorite to this date, with billions of cones consumed each year.

DID YOU KNOW?

• A few drops of vanilla in a can of paint will help eliminate unpleasant odors!
  
  
• A vanilla bean under your car seat gives a fresh aroma and helps eliminate musty odors.
  
  
• A teaspoon or so of vanilla in Italian tomato sauces or Mexican chili helps cut the acidity of the tomatoes!
  
  
• The United States consumption of vanilla beans is approximately 1,200 tons per year!
  
  
• In baking, cream the vanilla with the shortening or butter portion of the ingredients. The fat encapsulates the vanilla, preventing it from volatilizing in the baking process.
  
  
• Vanilla beans are hand-pollinated, on family plantations.
  
  
• The entire vanilla cultivation process, from planting to market, can take from five to six years!
  
  
• Vanilla extract is used by veteran fishermen to mask the smell of their hands so the fish won't detect them!