Have you tasted Tonka?

I’m totally hooked and use this in so many of my dishes.

It all started a few years ago, 12 to be exact! When I went to a Tea Room in Bruges called Tonka for coffee and some lunch.

They did excellent fresh food and my fave is still the goat cheese and pear salad with honey and walnuts.  It is just so fresh! and they add a little Tonka into so many of their coffee’s and items.

So I purchased some Tonka Beans from France.  Now there is some “talk and concern” around Tonka beans and here’s a great blog from the BBC so please do read it here. I have been eating them for a number of years now and when you think that I put one of them in a cake… I don’t think I’ll ever get to the 30+ levels they talk about in any one day.

So here’s the thing, Tonka can be put in anything and I decided quite some time ago that I’d put it in place of Vanilla and I have to say the difference is absolutely noticeable.

There’s an amazing almost heady aroma of chocolate, vanilla, caramel and the fragrance of Magnolia.  It has such a complex flavour that once tasted it is never forgotten,

I also remember I had a perfume years and years ago and there was an aroma that I couldn’t place… It was “Fleur du Chocolate” and I spent years believing that this was chocolate and orange.  However I do believe it was “Tonka” that made the magical heady aroma.

So I use Tonka in absolutely everything (and I even sprinkle in some savoury dishes too).

If you’d like to try them, these are the ones that I use, they’re from amazon and have a great taste.

So once you get started you’ll put them in cakes and yes this is my Spiced Rhubarb Bundt with yes, you guessed it, brownies, panna cotta, ice cream… on fact everything including chicken dishes!!!!

So do give them a try, they are delicious and look our for some of my recipes with them in!

Catch up soon

Angela