For Abhishek of Hawai, three's a charm with his third win in our contests.
It takes a well informed and competitive reader to achieve that.
He won our latest contest on the topic of Vanilla inspired by A Century of Flavor, a cookbook published in 2008 for Nielsen-Massey Vanillas to celebrate their first 100 years in business.
A number of chefs like Rick Bayless with his Flan Classico de Vanilla contributed to the book.
Besides its recipes, A Century of Flavor shares Vanilla facts such as this one:
"At the time of harvesting, the vanilla bean pods are green and have absolutely no characteristic vanilla flavor and aroma. It is only after the curing process, which can take up to six months, that the vanilla beans turn brown in color and the flavor and aroma that we know as 'vanilla' develops."
I will have to put to use the Organic Bourbon Vanilla Extract sent by the company to the test.
Maybe with the Vanilla-Mocha Cafe Cake featured on page 78.
Thanks to Nielsen-Massey for offering their book as a prize.
Our contests and interviews should return to a regular weekly schedule starting this week.
(* samples and a complementary copy of the book had no influence on my writing)