Tonka Bean Crisp

There is this wonderful shop in my city which sells all things spices, if it's a spice, chances are this shop will have it. I love my spices and any excuse to buy in whole form is a good excuse! on one trip to this shop (The Silk Road Spice Market) I was looking for curry leaves, and although I found them, I ended up changing my mind for coriander, But of course that is besides the point, My boyfriend and I were browsing and by chance found this little blurb about this magical bean: Tonka Beans. and not knowing what we'd use it for my Shawn grabbed a jar and said gleefully, "I'm getting this one!" because we'd agreed we'd only pick one jar of something each.

Tonka is a black bean which IMHO smells alot like those imitation sweet almond candles and lotions you can buy at the department store, and although I can't stand the smell of those lotions, there is something about that powerful a scent coming from a bean that really intrigues me. Well as wonderful as this bean apparently is, it has sat on my spice cupboard for the last few weeks forgotten, and without a use :(

 Well this morning I decided to make a crisp. It started out with the intent of being a white peach and blue berry crisp, but I soon found that I had no fresh blueberries and not enough peaches! So it became a white peach with apples and mixed berry crisp. Now you may not know this but cinnamon is not a spice I like and apple pie has never been something that makes me drool, in fact apple pie makes me want to turn and run in the other direction. Yes! I have received numerous different expressions but my favorite has to be the glare I get, really! many times I've actually received a glare of hate beamed my way just for not liking the combination of apples and cinnamon! SO of course the apples being in this crisp is definitely a gamble! Now although my recipe doesn't call for spices other than sugar (If you count it as a spice) I felt like there had to be something I could do to give this crisp some extra and real pizzazz, when suddenly I heard those beautiful little beans calling out to me, so I got a few out, grated them into my Fruit mix AND my Crumble mix, put it all together and away into the oven it has gone.

Now it cools on my counter awaiting my boyfriend to come and take a look-see. But let me tell you about this bean. The following exerpt has been taken from the Mountainroseherbs website:

The leguminous seed of the Tonka tree Dipteryx odorata, a large rainforest tree (growing to more than 120 feet high) native to South America and belonging to the pea family--have sometimes been used as a substitute for vanilla. Tonka beans have an incredibly sweet fragrance and flavor which is reminiscent of vanilla, almonds, cinnamon and cloves. Because it contains coumarin, which is suspected of being toxic and carcinogenic it is banned from being used as a food ingredient in the US. In addition to its historical use in flavoring cookies, cakes and cream dishes, Tonka beans are sometimes used to flavor snuff and pipe tobacco. It is still used as a food ingredient in France (especially in desserts), and at least one European candy company produces a tonka bean-flavored milk chocolate bar. In South America the bean paste is mixed with milk to make a sweet beverage, and has been thought to have aphrodisiac properties.

 Well my wonderful readers there is a particularly yummy looking crisp calling out to me and I can't wait to see what Shawn thinks of it! So tell me, what new flavor are you trying out this month?

* 1 hour later update! SO the Multi-fruit crisp turned out awesomely, however after tasting it i believe that the 2.5 Tonka beans i used were Way too much! next time i will only use 1 Tonka bean as i was going of a hint of pizzazz and sass, and instead i ended up with a punch full! Either way, it all was very yummy.

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xoxo, RainSmurf