Vaniglia Naturale
Elenka product code 152
A natural vanilla paste dosed at 30 grams per litre of mix, which makes it one of the most concentrated products in the range and one of the easiest to overdose. A 1 kg pail carries about 33 litres of finished gelato.
Specification sheets are supplied to trade customers on request.
About Vaniglia Naturale
Vanilla is where a gelateria's costing instincts fail most reliably. It is the most expensive thing on the shelf per kilogram and one of the cheapest per litre of gelato, and operators consistently reach for the wrong one of those numbers.
What it is
A natural vanilla paste for flavouring a finished white base, dosed at 30 grams per litre of finished mix. Unlike Vanilkon it does not carry visible pod specks, which makes it the version to use where the vanilla is a component rather than a display flavour.
Thirty grams changes how you handle it
This is one of the most concentrated products in the paste range, and concentration cuts both ways.
The good side is cost. A one-kilogram pail is roughly 33 litres of finished gelato. Judged per litre of product — which is the only comparison that means anything — vanilla stops being the expensive ingredient it appears to be on the invoice.
The demanding side is precision. At 30 grams, a ten-gram error is a third of the dose. That is easily done with a spoon and impossible to detect until the batch is frozen, and over-dosed vanilla does not read as more vanilla, it reads as perfumed. Weigh it, on scales that resolve to a gram.
The figure is quoted per litre of mix, not per litre of milk.
Where it goes
The obvious use is a vanilla tub. The more valuable uses are the ones where vanilla is not the flavour on the board: rounding out a fior di latte, sitting under a fruit ripple, or lifting a pastry cream that would otherwise read flat. Vanilla is the ingredient that makes other flavours taste finished, and it is usually the cheapest way to improve a mediocre tub.
It also works as the familiar anchor beside an unfamiliar flavour. A customer choosing between vanilla and zuppa inglese will try the unfamiliar one far more readily when the safe option is right there.
Handling
Keep the pail sealed and cool. Vanilla's value is in volatile aromatic compounds, and an open pail in a warm kitchen loses exactly the fraction you are paying for. Use clean dry utensils and never return unused product.
What we do not publish
Ingredients, allergens, shelf life and storage conditions are absent from this page because no Elenka specification sheet is held for the Australian range. Absent means the data is not held, never that the answer is no. Request the sheet for any product you are considering and we will obtain it.
Technical specifications
| Recommended dosage | 30 g per litre of mix — Weigh it. At this concentration a 10 g error is a third of the dose. |
|---|---|
| Format | 1 kg pail |
| Applications | gelato, semifreddo, pastry cream, mousse |
| Elenka product code | 152 |
Full specification on request
The ingredient list, allergen declaration, shelf life and storage conditions for Vaniglia Naturale are provided on the Elenka specification sheet. We supply it on request — please do not rely on the product name when answering a customer allergen enquiry.
Related products
Vanilkon
A vanilla paste made by processing whole pods, so the finished gelato carries the visible black specks that customers read as real vanilla. It is the version to use when the vanilla has to be seen as well as tasted.
Code 8146 kgBase Cheesecake 500
A complete cheesecake base built on powdered mascarpone and milk proteins. Dosed at 350 to 400 grams per litre of water or milk, it reproduces the lactic tang and dense body of a baked cheesecake in frozen form.
Code 10591.5 kgEstratto Finissimo di Zuppa Inglese
Elenka's first product, invented at the turn of the 1960s and still made: a highly concentrated extract that gives gelato the aromatic, Alchermes-scented character of the Italian trifle it is named after. Thirty grams per litre of mix is enough, which is why the pail lasts.
Code 3032.6 kgArachide
A peanut paste made from skilfully toasted peanuts, dosed at 100 grams per litre of mix. Peanut is the nut Australian customers already know best and the one almost no gelateria carries, which is the entire commercial argument.
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Frequently asked questions
How much do I use per litre?
Thirty grams per litre of finished mix. That is a full dose, not a cautious starting point, and at this concentration a ten-gram overshoot is a third of the recipe — weigh it rather than estimating by eye or by spoon.
Should I choose this or Vanilkon?
This one where the vanilla sits underneath something else, Vanilkon where the tub is on display and the visible pod specks are doing commercial work. They are different products for different jobs rather than two grades of the same thing.
Why does vanilla cost so much per kilogram?
Because vanilla itself does. The relevant figure is cost per litre of finished gelato: at 30 grams per litre, a 1 kg pail carries about 33 litres, which puts it in a very different place from where the price per kilogram suggests.