Have you ever tried tonka bean?
According to The Atlantic, it's a wrinkled, near magical legume from South America that has incredible aromas of vanilla, cherry, almond and spice akin to cinnamon. In ice cream, it supposedly tastes like vanilla caramel with dark honey. Shaved on top of scallops, it morphs into a spiced vanilla-like essence. Too bad the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deems it illegal - and potentially deadly.
Tonka bean was previously used in American commercial foods like synthetic vanillin and cream soda. But in the U.S., all foods that contain the chemical compound coumarin, including this wondrous bean, have banned since 1954 due to its association with liver problems in rats when consumed in extreme concentrations.
The Atlantic, however, says the ill effects of tonka bean are exaggerated, and that the ban is outdated. Coumarin is naturally found in cinnamon, lavender and licorice, and humans would have to eat an unreasonably large amount of tonka bean to actually become sick from it.
In Canada, tonka bean appears on Health Canada's 1995 list of herbs deemed unacceptable as non-medicinal ingredients in non-prescription drugs. But that doesn't prevent people from using it in food. Recipes calling for tonka abound on Canadian food blogs (like this panna cotta) and this pumpkin spice bread pudding) and you can find it on the menus of certain restaurants.
Have you ever tried it?
Wency Leung