Have you met the Vanilla Queen?

Patricia Rain is the Vanilla Queen, possessing infinite knowledge about vanilla, vanilla farming, and more.

image by Sara Remington

Patricia and I share a dual love of good food and social justice, and she takes both seriously. Her site at vanilla.com provides an eye-opening account of the vanilla industry, as well as a comprehensive education on everything vanilla.

Did you know that women produce up to 80% of the crops in developing countries, yet receive only a small allocation of monies from the sale of those crops?

I will leave it to the Vanilla Queen to educate you on the issues facing tropical farmers, and what she is doing to reduce the burden and increase the joy.

So what does this all have to do with a chocolate-dipped ice cream sandwich? Patricia was kind enough to share my recipe for the Better-Than-It ice cream sandwich from my new book, i scream SANDWICH!, on her site.

Though dipped in dark chocolate that forms a crackling shell, the sandwich uses vanilla in both the cookies and the ice cream–both in bean and extract form. I hope you’ll make it, and I hope you will use vanilla that provides better working conditions and a fair wage to the fine folks who grew it for you.

Wishing you screams of vanilla, chocolate, and frozen joy!

Jennie