Suddenly, vanilla anything is super rare. Even soft serve, almost overnight, everyone switched from vanilla to Milk. Wtf? And the stinky milk, not even milk worth the calories.
Where the heck did vanilla go? You have a better chance of lychee soft serve now than finding vanilla. I wonder if it’s covid related about where vanilla imports from.
I miss french vanilla
Is this a Taiwan thing? I still see Vanilla
You can still see vanilla at American style franchises like Coldstone, Dairy Queen and Haagen Daaz but that’s it. Family mart, 711, literally any local place that sells soft serve or ice cream… It’s all milk now. Stinky milk flavor. At least in both Taipei and New Taipei. The Happening started about 6 months ago where vanilla is now stinky milk.
Have you tried McDonalds? The flavor of their soft serve is more or less consistent.
Also they have dairy queen in Taiwan?
I still see it too. But to be fair, its vanilla flavor, not vanilla. The nice fake stuff is still cheap.
As an aside, there is a small number of us developing vanilla here in taiwan, so expect home grown beans to be more common place (and better quality!) Than what is currently available.
But note, its still more or less 20,000/kg wholesale here so dont expect cheap eateries selling it cheap.
Most vanilla you eat out there are vanilla flavor. Real vanilla beans are very expensive. Unless you are eating upscale ice cream (possibly stuff like Haagen Daas or something) it’s all vanilla flavor.
Yup. Years ago Nestle promised to switch to all natural flavors by around now. Not sure if they kept their word on that, but expect vanilla to get a bit more expensive in recent years.
Also, google how they make vanilla flavor from wood pulp and such. Its interesting.
If you see real vanilla ice cream somewhere, please remember me and tag me!! Stoked you’re making the stuff.
I actually recall 1 place in Tianmu that has REAL ice cream with amazing vanilla (home made, not soft serve). Its American style but locale. Forgot the name… Starts with a B.
The best vanilla ice cream in Taiwan right now is Costco brand 
You know what I miss is Vanilla FROZEN YOGURT!! Mmmm…
I’ll pay more for real vanilla. I think costco uses real vanilla. I’ll need to Google.
I should clarify i think. We are developing vanilla varieties, cultivation and processing. Not involved with ice cream at all. But when proper vanilla is achieved, expect many local shops to start using it. Especially in Taipei, and especially even more in Tianmu. We already have a large wait list there. I assume nothing will be cheap as they will middle man and market the passion right out of it.
Carrefour and Jason’s has Bryer’s Natural Vanilla ice cream.
I got a box of six Vanilla Ice Cream cones for NT$120 at Carrefour , they (Carrefour) have nice choices local and from EU.
Isn’t milk flavour the standard instead of vanilla in taiwan? cus of hokkaido ice cream? That would be my guess anyway. I’ve rarely seen vanilla.
Can I pick your brains on this subject? How do you make them flower?
I have several plants growing nicely in Elbonia, but they never seem to flower. I’ve heard they only do so when they’ve reached the top of the canopy. Is that true?
On a completely unrelated note, this is one area where Mexico is truly amazing. Most ice cream there is locally made, and the vanilla is real vanilla, in that it is easily available locally.
I heard they got lots of cheap but good food too. Like 5 dollar roast chicken (100 pesos I think), really good but cheap tacos, and maybe that taco stand with weird meat and no stray dogs or cats…
Problem is getting a visa to Mexico is harder than you think because they’re pressured by the US to be selective on visas, as lots of people use them as a means to cross the border illegally.
Ummm, no. Visa is issued upon arrival, for 6 months validity. No questions asked.
Ask away. I am far from an expert, but I work hard haha. Take everything i say with a grain or 2 of salt…
In taiwan they normally flower springish and it is a once a year affair. Random blooms arent impossible, more common in the wild where they are under a forest canopy with untold amounts of climatic variations. I am not yet certain the exact trigger, but light and temperature seem the most likely.
It is certainly true, for many other climbing vines as well, that they need to reach a top, then gravity busts them down and their hormones do a funky confused dance because they have just essentially gotten their first period. Then they flower next year.
they grow up your post. Then ideally they go horizontal (minor training involved) and are then left to drop down again where they hit the soil, root and start sprawling til they hit that/a post again. Following that, they flower like mad when the season is right. Dont bother following those online resources saying 3 years or at least 100 feet etc type BS, its more specific than that and rarely things are that simple.
I am still way too early in researching to publish this theory, but its my leading one and one that we aim to develop into quicker flowering in commercial farms. As of now, we are at a minimum of 2 years fruit.production from mature cuttings (seeds are slower and difficult, i dont bother). Pushing it past that is almost certainly an academic masturbation grant rather than a useful application. Fun nonetheless.
For US Citizens, yes, for Taiwanese you have to get a visa ahead of time, and it’s a pain to get because the consulate is located in weird places, and the process is a pain in the ass. Read about it online somewhere of a Taiwanese trying to get a Mexican visa. This is ironic since Taiwan has visa wavier to the US so if any Taiwanese wants to immigrate illegally to the US they could just fly in on a ESTA and overstay, no need to go through Mexico. Not to mention Canadian border is even less guarded compared to the US Mexico border, and Taiwanese gets 6 months visa on arrival there too.