Is this Paleo?

[cchristophher]

I know Paleo does not allow legumes, and vanilla bean is obviously a bean, however, I see vanilla extract allowed in many Paleo recipes. I searched this topic and haven't found anything about vanilla extract being okay or not. I know vanilla extract is not the bean itself but it's the extract, and I'm no food scientist so what would that entail? What are the implications in terms of possibly containing lectin or antinutrients, or anything undesired chemicals?

[djr_81]

The vanilla bean is the fertilized fruit of a specific orchid.
Real extract is the vanilla bean soaked in an alcohol to impart the flavor.
I'm not sure on the process for artificial but could wager a safe bet it's not "paleo".

If making a recipe that calls for vanilla I'd just slice a bean lengthwise and then scrape the seeds out of the husk. Toss both seeds and husk into a liquid in the recipe to extract some flavor. Heat would do this best but since this is a raw paleo site we'll assume this won't be occurring. You should still extract plenty of flavor out with a decent soak.
Alternately I suppose you could soak it in mead to extract the flavor and still avoid grains.

[TylerDurden]

Cut out the vanilla extract - it's definitely highly processed and therefore not "rawpalaeo" in any way!