I came across the tonka bean at a praline workshop and was fascinated by it. This, honestly, ugly little bean gives off such a wonderful flavor that I was very surprised. So I didn’t want to use it only in pralines and took a closer look at how tonka beans can be used. Curious? Then read on to find out which dishes can be refined with a tonka bean.
Where does the tonka bean come from?
Tonka beans are found in northern South America and grow on a tonka bean tree. The seeds are referred to as tonka beans and are used in cooking. Tonka beans are very hard and are either finely grated on a nutmeg grater or boiled in liquid, such as milk or whipping cream, etc. The beans can also be soaked in rum. It is also interesting that after soaking and boiling, the bean does not have to be thrown away; it can be cooked up to 10 times.
Tonka beans have a sweet, slightly bitter taste, and also taste of vanilla, almonds, or caramel. They are very popular in desserts.
The tonka bean was temporarily banned in foods in Germany; since 1991, this ban has existed in a restricted form. Its use is only permitted if the permissible maximum amount of coumarin in the dish is not exceeded. As a toxin, coumarin is one of the substances that may not be added to foods and is subject to a maximum amount ranging from 5 mg/kg in desserts to 50 mg/kg in baked goods.
You can buy tonka beans in health food stores; here in Gänserndorf, for example, at Prokopp, or also on Amazon.
Uses of the tonka bean
As already mentioned, I got to know the tonka bean while making pralines; here we refined the ganache with its flavor. We added 1 bean to the whipping cream and brought it to the boil.
Recipe: ganache with tonka bean for pralines:
- 125 g whipping cream
- 1 pinch cinnamon
- Seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean
- Grated tonka bean
- 20 g glucose syrup or honey
- 170 g white couverture chocolate
- 80 g milk couverture chocolate
Instructions:
This mixture can be used to fill hollow shells. Makes enough for approx. 50–55 pralines.
Chill the hollow shells in the refrigerator.
Briefly bring the whipping cream with the honey, cinnamon, grated tonka bean, and vanilla seeds to the boil in a saucepan. Remove from the hotplate, add the white and milk couverture chocolate, and let it melt while stirring. Homogenize the whole mixture with an immersion blender.
Let the ganache cool slightly (29° C is ideal; a cooking spoon with temperature display helps here).
Now take the hollow shells out of the refrigerator and fill them with the ganache to 1–2 mm below the rim, then chill again.
If you like, you can now melt the matching couverture chocolate for sealing and close the filling holes with a small piping cone.
Recipe: tonka bean and milk or whipping cream
Use 1–2 beans per 1 liter of milk, boil them for about 10 minutes, and then let everything stand overnight. The sauce can then be processed further into sweet dishes, such as pudding, semolina pudding, ganache, or cocoa.
Recipe: cocktails and tonka bean
The flavor of the tonka bean is also suitable for cocktails; to do this, soak the bean in rum, coconut milk, etc. overnight and use it for the cocktails. Or, if you like, you can also cook it in a punch.
Grating tonka bean
The tonka bean can be grated with a fine grater, like the one used for nutmeg.
You can enhance the following sweet dishes with it:
Muesli, porridge, pudding, semolina pudding, ice cream, sorbets, jam, cake batters, pralines, or pastry doughs, etc.
The tonka bean harmonizes very well with cocoa, coconut, or poppy seeds.
Savory dishes can also be enhanced with the tonka bean:
Creamy soups, oriental rice dishes, game ragouts, white fish and lobster, acidic notes of tomato sauces, etc.
Read also:Â Leftover Christmas spices
Photo by Sabine, meinhaushalt.at
