Tonka Beans

Product detailed description

Tonka beans - a wonderful alternative to ingredients like vanilla, cinnamon, almond extract or nutmeg.

The tonka bean smell comes from a chemical compound called 'coumarin'. As there's an all-out ban on any ingredients containing coumarin in America, there is lots of misinformation circulating about tonka beans' toxicity. The reality is that it would take the equivalent of 30 whole tonka beans for the coumarin levels to become dangerous. 

Grate tonka beans with a microplane, as you would with nutmeg, to create an intensely-flavoured powder. The tonka bean powder can be used like any other dry spice, for example, it might be mixed with white flour to make a tonka-flavoured bread or mixed with icing sugar to make a tonka-flavoured macarons.

Tonka bean is most often used to infuse liquids though. The shavings are added to the liquid and stirred on a medium-heat, then left to infuse and strained. 

Crystallization on the tonka beans - sometimes you´ll get tonka beans that are covered by small crystals. This is the crystallisation of the coumarin and it´s a sign of quality.

Packaging: 20 grams