Taste Tests – An Ongoing Thread

As each Taste Test is completed, I will post the results here

The first taste test ventures into dangerous territory: pitting Homemade Vanilla Extract made from a very inexpensive Vodka against the one Vanilla Extract everyone can name. The Homemade Vanilla Extract is from the bottle that sits in the cabinet here at the house and was originally created over two years ago using Smirnoff Vodka. It’s been replenished a few times with whatever Vodka was at hand, and never a “top shelf” brand.

The competition was a 2 ounce bottle of McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract purchased at Kroger the week of the test for $8.99 plus tax.

The field of battle is a pan of marshmallows. Using the recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction, one recipe of marshmallows was made, split in half, and the first half given McCormick Vanilla Extract plus green food coloring, and the other half given the Homemade Vanilla Extract plus blue and red food coloring. This was an attempt to make two pans that differed only in color and Vanilla Extract.

Ballots were created to give to the testers and the taste test was conducted on the customers of the Nolensville Farmers’ Market. 39 customers participated. Of those, four did not rate BOTH of the marshmallows (4 McCormick, 1 Homemade). The remaining 33 preferred the Homemade (20) over McCormick (13). That is, 60% preferred Homemade Vanilla Extract made with very cheap Vodka.

Furthermore, customers were given the chance to rate each of the marshmallows on a scale of 0 to 5. Totaling those scores, Homemade earned 159 points (average 4.2) and McCormick earned 139 points (average 3.9). Eliminating the ties brings the scores to 133 for Homemade (average 4.2)and 113 for McCormick(average 3.8).

Under every metric, Homemade outperformed McCormick.

In reality, this was merely a test run to figure out how to run a survey. But it’s nice to win.

Going into this taste test, I was reasonably sure that the brand of Vodka would not matter too much. If that is the case, then the results should be mixed, at best.

WRONG!

The results of this test have completely blown me away. As before, we made one pan of marshmallow using the recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction, split the recipe in half, put a Vanilla Extract using Absolut Vodka and green food coloring in one, and a Vanilla Extract using Skol Vodka and blue and red food coloring in the other. The result is two pans of marshmallow that should be absolutely identical.

The customers at the Nolensville Farmers’ Market served as taste testers and the results are as follows:

Overall, of 43 respondents, 7 (16%) rated the two equally; 12 (28%) rated Skol higher, and 24 (56%) rated Absolut higher. The Skol Vodka Vanilla Extract accumulated a total of 159 points overall with an average score of 3.8. The Absolut accumulated 176 points with an average of 4.1.

If you eliminate the tie scores, of those who expressed a preference, 67% preferred the Vanilla Extract made from Absolut Vodka vs 33% who preferred the Vanilla Extract using Skol Vodka.

The difference in scores are not very significant, but there is no question that most people prefer the Vanilla Extract made from the higher cost Vodka. Today, a standard 750 ml bottle of Absolut costs $18.99 while Skol costs $6.99. As noted in Question #02, the cost of the alcohol does not have a significant effect on the overall cost of your Vanilla Extract. Moving from Skol to Absolut would increase the cost of your Vanilla Extract by less than 50¢ per ounce. And if you buy 1.75 litre bottles, the cost difference is just 22¢ per ounce. Practically insignificant.

To reiterate, I find these results surprising, but not something that will break the bank should I choose to change my base alcohol.

#03 – Tito’s vs Veil

This is the first time the results matched my expectation … and I fear the results are inaccurate.

Same setup as each time before: One batch of marshmallow, split in half, vanilla extract and food coloring added to each half and mixed in. The marshmallows were then presented to the customers at the Nolensville Farmers’ Market and they were asked to rate the difference based on the taste of the vanilla only. This time, the results : A tie! OK, not an absolute tie, but 27 customers preferred the Vanilla Extract made with Veil Vodka, 26 customers preferred the Vanilla Extract made with Tito’s Vodka, and 9 rated them the same.

My contention from the beginning is that Vodka is Vodka, and the price of the Vodka in your Vanilla Extract will probably not make any difference. However, last week’s test proved that there is a difference between Vodkas. But this week’s test indicates that the mid-price Vodkas are seemingly pretty much the same. This week, a 750 ml bottle of Veil Vodka costs $11.99 and Tito’s goes for $18.19, about a 50% difference.

All that said to say this: This test may have been skewed by two factors: I’ve never had anyone give a zero rating to any of the other products I’ve tested before this test, and this time around, there were three. I saw one being given by a young lady who was told by her mother that she HAD to rate the blue marshmallow, and she ate it (and rated it) very begrudgingly. That’s one issue.

The other was a young man who kept coming back over and over, asking if his favorite was leading. For some reason, he was extremely invested in being on the “winning” team. He also brought at least three others along during his returns, and I suspect he was encouraging them to vote his way to ensure his vote was on the “winning” side. I never heard him say anything specific, but each of the three he brought voted for the one he preferred.

Short version: I’ll repeat this test at some point in the future. Even though I agree with the result … rather, even though it confirms my prior belief … I think it will be best if I see if this result is repeatable.

One other observation … In the first taste test, 6 of 39 (15%) marked a tie score. In the second taste test, 7 of 43 (16%) marked a tie. This week … 9 of 62 (15%) marked a tie. Probably just a coincidence, but it will be interesting to see if the pattern continues.