The vanilla bean, or pod, is the long, slender fruit of the vanilla orchid. Each pod contains thousands of seeds. It is one of the most expensive spices due to its complex and lengthy curing process, mainly due to the orchid only flowering once yearly. Vanilla beans are used in most of the world's cuisines. They are the purest and most potent form of vanilla and can be reused to steep in the liquid until losing their flavour, or the seeds inside can be scraped out and the pod discarded. It has a floral aroma and a smooth caramel flavour. The best beans are air-dried to 25-30% moisture content. Other products: vanilla sugar.