Surprise Ingredient: Vanilla in Tomato Soup

We recently attended a dinner party at the home of Abby from AT: Los Angeles. From the vegetable terrine to the crème brûlée, everything was beautifully presented and delicious. But it was the starter that really made an impression on us. While we were sipping the tomato soup, Abby revealed that it contained a secret ingredient...

Vanilla! It wasn't an intentional secret ingredient; actually, it was more of happy accident. In the middle of cooking, Abby reached for the sugar and realized that she only had vanilla bean-infused sugar on hand. And guess what? It totally worked. The vanilla was not overpowering (she didn't use a lot of sugar, just enough to add a little extra sweetness) but it was subtly aromatic and helped balance the acidity of the tomatoes.

Searching online, we found scant references to vanilla in tomato soup. Have any of you used vanilla – sugar, bean, or extract – in tomato soup?

(Images: Flickr member romanlily licensed under Creative Commons, Flickr member clada74 licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (4)

I often add vanilla to shell fish sauces - most of which usually also contain tomato - as well.

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Dana McCauley, can you include some examples? The idea sounds delicious, but the only shellfish sauce that's coming to my mind right now is champagne vanilla sauce (to serve with lobster/lobster ravioli) and that definitely doesn't include tomatoes.

Thanks!

I have not tried a bit of vanilla yet in tomato soup but my favorite secret ingredient is cinnamon! As much or as little as you like, stirred in whenever (best while cooking rather than at the end). My good friend's grammy's secret - and I'm so happy she passed it along to me!

Vanilla in tomato sauces is simply glorious! I often also use tonka beans...really good stuff!