Is Vanilla Fructose Free?

That’s the million dollar question, folks!

A couple weeks ago, I was looking for a vegan muffin recipe to try out for Mr. Charm.  As a reminder, he now must avoid dairy, egg, and fructose…I have muffin recipes but they all call for large quantities of sugar, maple syrup, honey, or applesauce.  I was hoping for something a little…less fructose-y!

So, I found a basic recipe that I thought had potential (with lots of eliminations, of course!) but it called for vanilla.

“Hmm…is vanilla fructose free?” I wondered.  I didn’t know.  So I started checking out the links of fructose-free and fructose-full foods that I’ve found.

No answer.

So I googled it directly.

No answer.

But I found lots of random pages about vanilla and a few links to FructMal message boards that talked about vanilla.  It seems some people react to vanilla, and others don’t.

That’s not very helpful!

Then I read what the Food Renegade lady had to say about vanilla extract and was intrigued: did some people react to vanilla because some vanilla has corn syrup added and some doesn’t?

Hmm.  Interesting.  But sort of a moot point, because I started making my own vanilla from scratch about a year and a half ago and haven’t bought a bottle from a store since!  (Try it for yourself – you’ll never go back, I promise!)

So what I really need to know is whether the ingredients in homemade vanilla are fructose free.  That should be easy, right?  It’s just vodka and vanilla beans, after all.

Well.

Did you know that Smirnoff Vodka is made out of CORN??!?  I thought all vodka – by default – was made of potatos!  Silly me…nope.  Since we’re trying to avoid corn, all that homemade vanilla in my pantry is worthless to us, now!

I did discover a vodka from Austria made out of potato that received high reviews, but could not find a single thing about whether there was any fructose in the vodka.  (You would assume that no, there would not be.  I’ve learned to never assume anything about a processed food!!)

Since I had seemingly hit a brick wall for the moment, I decided to start investigating whether vanilla beans had fructose or not.

Again, could NOT find a straight answer!

I read one persons report on a message board saying that sometimes vanilla beans were packed in sugar, and therefore were not fructose-free.  That implies different companies handle it in different ways.

So I decided to make life easier on myself and just stopped thinking about it…until my next visit to the health food co-op.

I asked the lovely ladies there if they knew who supplied their vanilla beans.  After explaining what I hoped to learn from the supplier, the ladies at the store called to make the inquiries for me.

Their vanilla beans are NOT packed in sugar, they are NOT processed beyond picking and packaging.

So I asked the nutritionist on staff at the co-op whether vanilla is ‘safe’ for FructMal.  She said she had looked into it and could not find any source that would say whether vanilla beans had fructose, or in what quantity.  What she HAD learned was that there are several ‘vanilla flavored yoghurts’ recommended for the FODMAP’s diet (which stands for Fermentable Oligo- Di- and Monosaccharides And Polyls – Fructose is a Disaccharide, and so FODMAP’s diets are often prescribed for FructMal) and her thoughts were that those would not be recommended if they were out of bounds on fructose.

So there.

I could make myself crazy and keep pushing to find out if somehow fructose is added to a triple distilled vodka, or I could just chalk this one up to “it’s probably fine” and move on.

Which I will.

I’m crazy enough without going that far.

There is no definitive answer that I could find.  But the most well-educated hypotheses I could discern rank vanilla a “GO” food for Mr. Charm.

Guess I can make muffins now!  (Not to mention start a couple new bottles of safe vanilla!)

Have you made your own vanilla before?